We're Home

Melody did very well during her surgery on Monday and we were able to come home late Tuesday evening. Monday was a bit rough as she got over the anesthesia and expressed her anger at being hooked up to the IV and O2 line, but by evening she was already drinking apple juice and taking pain medication by mouth (which meant we could stop using morphine through the IV). By Tuesday morning, she was virtually jumping around in her crib and wanting to "get out!" Amazingly, she doesn't seem to be in much pain, so we're only using regular Tylenol and Motrin as needed. She's one incredible kid! My biggest prayer at this point is that the repair is successful this time and that we don't have to go through this again. In the middle of the surgery, our surgeon came out to ask our permission to graft in some donor tissue (AlloDerm) to increase the likelihood of success. I wish I'd had some time to research it, but we didn't and of course we said yes (what else would we do on the spot like that?). The tissue isn't like getting an organ since it's processed to the point where the cells are removed and there's nothing for the recipient's body to reject. It's an odd concept...kind of like human gauze or something. Our surgeon uses it all the time in breast reconstruction and facial repairs, so he was really confident about it. We think it may be one of the reasons Melody isn't experiencing too much pain, since the tissue is covering a lot of the really raw spots. We'd truly appreciate all prayers for the success of the procedure, as well as for the coming month of dietary restrictions. It's really important that nothing disturb the healing process, whether it be food or fingers or a toy. I'm sure glad that we're doing this now before the baby is here! I'll try to update again in a few days. Thanks for all your support!