Thursday, June 17, 2010

Great News!

We just got the great news that Caleb will go back into the OR tomorrow and will have his lips released! Not sure how much pain there will be with that, but we are all looking forward to him being able to open his mouth! That means hot dogs, pizza, chocolate -- all those great things he has been witnessing on TV and saying "yummy" to! He has continued to be a real trooper throughout this whole process. He has been easy to entertain and has been real patient through this week, but is ready to go home! Once again-- thank you for all your thoughts, prayers, and visits! All is appreciated!

In God's Peace~ The Bastians

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Another surgery completed!

I am not sure how many people continue to read these posts, since they have become so few and far between! It remains a good journal for me--none-the-less.
Caleb had his facial reconstruction on Friday morning (June 11). The surgery that Dr Hussain performed is called the ABBE flap procedure. Named after Dr Abbe, a doctor from out east, who started it, back in the late 1800's. Basically it involved creating a more prominent (and cute if I can share my opinion) nose! It also created an upper lip, and the piece between the nose and the top lip. He also had permanent t-tubes put into his ears. Needless to say, he did fabulous again. This was a huge procedure, and we are told the biggest surgery he will have. Back-tracking..... the surgery began at about 8:20 on Friday morning and took 3 hours to complete. We were in P-ICU for the first 48 hours and then were moved to a room upstairs on Sunday late afternoon/early evening. While in the ICU, he was pretty heavily sedated, but still did well with it. Today (Tuesday), he was, once again, taken to the OR to have the silk stitches (the ones on his face) removed. He was not real happy about going back into the ER, as it is still pretty fresh in his mind! We are still here until Saturday, as he has to go back into the OR to have his lips released.
I forgot to mention that when he came out of surgery, his lips were sewn shut, he had a tube sewn into one nostril, he was in straight arm-braces, and he had stitches on each side of his nose, under his nose, an IV in his arm, and on his chin- but he continued to be a trooper.