Nothing's Ever Easy

Well, as you might gather from this photo with her mother, the good news is that Gwendolyn did very well in the operating room. The surgeon said she didn't bleed at all, that the bone growth in her jaw was very good already, and that aside from having to make a pair of small extra incisions above her cheeks to assist with disassembling the extension devices, thereby making them easier to take out, it was a very mundane procedure. Better yet, they were able to easily place and remove Gwen's breathing tube for the procedure. However, as is always the case with her, there is a "but" to report. Apparently Gwen had an adverse reaction to one of the pain-killing narcotics that they gave her following the operation. It caused her extra irritation and she began to cry rather uncontrollably. Her shrieks of pain combined with an already raw throat from the inserting and taking out of the breathing tube gave her a wicked wheeze. So, every time she tried to calm down, she'd wheeze and it would cause her pain, which would then cause her to get all worked up again. It became a horrid cycle for a while and she spent a few hours fussing before finally calming down enough to get a cat nap in. After waking from that, we were able to give her a full bottle feed (previously we could only administer a partial feed via her button) and she seemed to catch her rhythm from there, quickly drifting back off to sleep in a fairly wheeze-free state. Unfortunately, she did swell up after the procedure but nothing out of the ordinary. She also did require some oxygen because her cries and subsequent wheeze were limiting her ability to get deep breaths of air. However, they are weaning her off that and she should be oxygen free very shortly. The good news is that she's still on track to be released tomorrow, but it's with a sense of cautious optimism that we look toward tomorrow afternoon and that possible discharge. Mom is staying at the hospital with Gwendolyn tonight and I've come home to watch after Braelyn overnight. Hopefully it's just a single day that we'll be a split family again! Well, I guess that's all for now... we'll update you all tomorrow as we are able to.