Soft Palate Surgery

There are so many emotions behind these pictures, its by far been the hardest point in all of this for sweet Ry. This week Riley had his soft palate repair.  For the past year of his life, he hasn't had the ability to swallow like normal. This surgery was supposed to, first, help his speech, and second to help him learn how to swallow. They sowed the muscles together really tight and put his artificial palate back in. A very painful surgery. Time will tell if it was successful or not when he starts talking, they may have to add one more surgery in there but we will see. 

The night before up until his surgery Riley couldn't eat which we dreaded and new was going to be one of the roughest parts. His surgery was at 12:00pm so the last time he could have his regular bottle was at midnight. By some miracle he was the happiest baby that morning, we would never have known he hadn't eaten in 12 hours. A little tender mercy for a mother, Im curtain the the sprit had a hand in it, he stepped in when we needed it most, and I had the happiest baby all morning long.  It took a little bit of the stress off,  and his big smile helped lighten the mood.  The surgeon said when they took him back he wouldn't stop smiling at everyone, and that he was all their favorites. 

They prepped him and then took us to the waiting room were we waited for our surgeon and anesthesioligist so come meet with us and take him back. We absolutely loved our anesthesiologist this time, and he loved Riley. We walked with him down the hall to the dreaded double doors. We gave Ry a hug and a kiss and the Dr. carried him away with his blanket.

It was about 2 hours till his surgeon came out to let us know he was done. He was really pleased which was good, but he said his palate was still a lot wider then they hoped. Its supposed to over time come closer together on its own but it was still pretty wide, so he said there may be an added surgery when he starts talking. Over all, it was good. It took about an hour for him to wake up enough for us to go see him. He has a really hard time we've learned coming out of anesthesia which is really hard to watch. They took us up to our recovery room, and poor Riley couldn't seem to get comfy.

Because of what  was done in the procedure, its been hard for him to breathe. The Dr told us that for the next few days he would have some bloody noses and lots of congestion. So that on top of the pain has been a nightmare. When we would finally get him to sleep and comfy,  he would breathe so loud and was trying so hard to get the air through, that suddenly he'd stop for a minute or 2 and wake up in a panic and be so upset. So we would have to start all the way over, calm him down, rock him, and get him to sleep.

 He tried to pull off his IV a couple times and constantly kicked all the monitor cords off.  About 10pm that night we seemed to get on top of his pain enough for him to sleep for about 45 minutes to an hour at a time. The narcotic that he was given didnt seem to be good for him. At first he seemed to be allergic to it, he got really itchy, and then would get really hyper and start fighting even more. It was so agonizing. He did however eat a few cups of ice cream through the night and was able to take some liquids.  Most of the night either Mac or I would take 2 hour stretches and hold him, and rock him in the chair so the other could sleep.

One of our Dr's came by the next morning to check on him, and approve discharge papers. It couldn't have come soon enough. He had to be drinking liquids and having diapers to be able to go. We learned from Rileys first surgery that he does so much better once we get home, so we were excited that Dr Chung let us go!

Day 2 at home was significantly better, but Rileys pain med still was causing issues, so we just ended up getting a different one which upsets his tummy, but is now really helping him sleep. He's kind of gone up and down the last couple of days and I'm really hoping he turns a corner here in the next day or two.

I'm so happy to have another surgery done, and behind us. Really all things considering Riley did an awesome job. He's once again amazed me at how strong he is. He fights through it. Needless to say we are emotionally, and physically exhausted just like the other surgeries, and I'm sure the ones to come. We sure love our guy, and through it all wouldn't change anything about him. We need him in our family, and are so happy we get to be the ones to squeeze him and kiss him. We are so thankful for our Cleft Team and for all those who have in one way or another helped him along the way. One more surgery down. Love you Riley!