Post-Op Check-up

The post-op appointment went very well today. Doc thought she looked great despite all our concerns: bad breath, yucky tongue which we thought was thrush, and trouble eating, drinking and sleeping. 

For the ten or fifteen minutes at a time that we could get Jai Li to sleep last night, I read and re-read all her release papers to see if I had missed something or was doing something incorrectly post-op. I was giving her the meds correctly, using the sprays for her nose and mouth correctly, was only brushing her bottom teeth.... but her breath continued to be simply awful and her tongue looks burned raw. Poor little baby! All the things she has been through.... it breaks my heart. 

I was expecting trouble when we went in today. Dr. Matthews seemed surprised when I answered his question about how she was doing with "so-so." She screamed bloody murder when he looked at her mouth, but once he got a good look he thought she looked wonderful. Her tongue DID look better today but holy cow, her breath will burn your nasal passages! All to be expected, however, and will go away with proper usage of the spray stuff. Ok, doc, we'll keep spraying and praying.

She's a tough cookie. She cries and gets frustrated, but for the most part she has been amazingly chipper. She loves that cardboard box. Nana Mel's gang sent the coolest "get well" cards to her today, and she loved them! Each child drew a pumpkin on the front of the card and artwork on the inside, too! They were absolutely adorable! They cheered her up so much (and made me cry). In fact, when I got home from work, she pulled them all off the fridge and carried them around the house! So those two things, along with lots of time on the telephone and in the car, seem to make her happy. Oh, and the "learn to read" DVD. Gracious, she can watch that thing 20 times in a row and love it like it's brand new. 

So, the doc was thrilled with the way her mouth looks, wasn't worried about the bad breath or yucky tongue, and said he could help us with the sleep issues. He suggested something called FSM (frequency specific microcurrent). I am reading about it now to determine whether or not we should try it. He claims it has worked well for other patients. He's open to polarity and Reiki and TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and all sorts of things you'd never expect to hear from a surgeon, which floats my boat -- I'm all into alternative methods of healing and am willing to explore anything that will help Jai Li get through this with minimal pain and frustration. If we do it, I'll post about it!

Thank you for all the messages and cards and love and concern for her well-being -- lots of love right back to you from Jaidybug, mommy and daddy!  XOX.