Before, After and After

Above is a picture that shows Wade's nose/lip (from left to right) when we first adopted him, after his 1st surgery and after his 2nd surgery. Really remarkable progress. We are just thrilled.

Wade Post-Surgery

Here are a couple pictures of Wade post-surgery. He still has tubes in his nose which distorts the shape of his nose a little bit but you can see that his upper lip is really amazing. He still has some scars (will have them for a little while) but is really doing well. He recovered from the surgery in record time - was back to his old self within a couple of days.

Wade is Home

Wade and Shelley came home this morning - exactly 24 hours after we left. They surgery was deemed an absolute success and the surgeons and staff were thrilled with how the surgery went and how quickly he is recovering. (He devoured a plate of macaroni and cheese last night.)

He is allowed to eat anything soft and is restricted to soft for only a week. Plus, they said that he should refrain from engaging in tackle football, boxing or bungee jumping for at least a week. We have canceled his boxing lessons for this weekend.

Thanks to everyone for good thoughts, wishes, and prayers.

Peter

Success!

Wade came out of surgery and Dr. Redett said everything went well, no problems. His lip and nose actually look amazing. As you can see in the picture, there are sutures and some blood but the nostrils are the same size, the lip is totally closed and it appears to be such a huge improvement.

Surgery is Underway

Wade was wheeled via-red-wagon to surgery today a little before 3pm. The procedure is expected to last 1.5 to 2 hours. Wade did incredibly well despite eating and drinking nothing from 8am to 3pm and eating nothing substantial (unless you consider jello substantial) since about 7pm last night.

Some pictures of our journey thus far are included below including Wade in pre-op in his underwear due to unwillingness to adhere to the dress code.

Curious George Goes to Surgery

There is no man in the yellow hat just a 5 year old mischievous little monkey headed into Johns Hopkins for his 2nd U.S. surgery on his cleft lip.

The surgery takes place at 1pm on November 3rd (Tuesday) at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. We anticipate the surgery will take approximately 2 hours although we are not certain. We continue to be under the great care of Dr. Richard Redett - surgeon, humanitarian and matinee-idol.

This should be his last surgery for a couple of years - next one will most likely be a bone graft to support his upper teeth.

Stay tuned for updates as the situation warrants.

Wade's Recovery Continues Apace

Shelley, Wade and Peter visited with Wade's surgeon on Monday, June 15, 2009. Upon looking in his mouth, he declared that it "looks awesome." As the pictures, indicate, Wade was a superstar at the doctor allowing the doctor to poke, prod and investigate with no crying or complaining. You can also see from the party hat picture that he continues to look better and better. Dr. Redett believes that after the next surgery (to be scheduled for some time this fall or early Winter), that Wade's upper lip and nose will look "almost completely normal."

Wade started at the Hill Pre-School this week (his "camp" for the summer) and he has taken to it like a fish to water. After crying the first day, he ran into class on the 2nd day. He has the same pre-school teacher that Clara June had (Ms. Joyce) who is truly a part of our family and also babysits for us on occassion.

Clara June meanwhile did a week of Chinese camp and will start at the Potomac School Camp on Monday complete with to/from bus rides, swimming every day and spending time with old and new friends.

The Amazing Wade

Wade continues to get better everyday and his funny and engaging personality has returned in full force. He continues to be on a largely liquid diet (he practically begged Shelley for Brocoli yesterday) but we have started adding in some very soft pasta (Raviolio's!). He has eaten a ton of tofu and vanilla ice cream mixed with peanut butter plus a lot of smoothy drinks.

As you can see from the picture, the large bump has turned into a short bump. Dr. Redett has told us that the remaining bump is probably mostly swelling and "lip puckering" and that much or all of it will be corrected with the next surgery. As might be obvious, the lip still needs a fair amount of work much of will be completed in 3 months at the next surgical milestone. Needless to say, that will not solve the issue of this picture which is peanut butter smeared on his face.

Home

Wade was discharged from the hospital yesterday morning and we all arrived home at 1:00pm on Friday. He has been doing very well albeit a little cranky and a little fussy. He slept almost straight through from 8pm to 6:00am last night which makes everyone quite happy.

He does not seem to be in lots of pain although there is some. And he has not complained about being in his arm restraints over night. He has been an incredible trooper. The hardest part is the food restrictions - he does not have lots of eating choices, particularly for the first few days.

More pictures later...

Bye bye bump.

Wade was in surgery for 2 hours and 10 minutes. His surgeon reports that it went it exactly as he hoped and expected. He said there we no complications and he is now in recovery on some serious narcotic pain medication that the nurses refuse to share with his parents.

As you can see, he has a bandage on his upper lip, but the transformation of his face is already pretty obvious. He has arm restraints that he made need for as long as three weeks (yikes) to keep him from messing with his stitches, lip, etc.

He woke up and was pretty darn unhappy but the pain medication seems to have solved that problem for now.

Thanks to everyone for thoughts and prayers. We are absolutely thrilled!

Off to the Operating Room

Given that he ate nothing from 5:30am until 12:25pm, Wade really did amazingly well. A little fussing and crying but nothing like we anticipated.

Wade went into surgery at 12:25pm and was asleep within 10 seconds of getting the mask. Peter went with him and Wade was a champ with very little crying. He went completely limp and then Peter almost started crying.

The staff here has been fantastic - very efficient and calming. The surgery is expected to take 2-3 hours so he should be out between 2:30 and 3:30 after which he will go into the recovery room for an hour and then on to his regular room for the night. If he eats tomorrow, then he gets to go home.

The surgeon explained that he will be taking the pre-maxilla and "docking" it into the palate. He drew us a good picture which we can't replicate here but he said he expects the bump under his nose to be completely gone after the surgery which is great news.

I forgot my camera today so no pictures so you will all have to miss out on Peter wearing a scrub gown and shower cap. Your loss.

The Day Before

We are rushing about trying to get prepared for the big surgery day today. Peter's parents are coming in today to help and to stay with Clara June while necessary when we both are at the hospital.

His surgery is at 12:30 on Thursday, May 21st. If there are no complications, then we expect him to come home on Friday afternoon.

Our surgeon is the boyish yet experienced and talented Dr. Richard Redett (see below). See more information him at http://www.hopkinscleft.com/redett.html.

We will try to update this blog on Wade's status as often as we can.