Five weeks post-surgery

Tor wasn't really cooperating here, hence the straight face! He actually can smile. But here are the latest photos.

After three weeks, our biggest concern was weight loss. He claimed to weigh in at 120 (!!) which would have been 15 pounds down from pre-surgery. But a week later he was at 127, and now he's up to 128... so we're hoping for him to gain it all back--and more, if possible!

After three weeks, he was able to have pasta with meat sauce, which was a real improvement over mashed potatoes and gravy. And he's been able to cut back on the peanut butter milkshakes, although those are still a good idea for weight gain.

We're hopeful that we're now on the final trek to complete recovery. Tor is supposed to do some physical therapy to stretch his jaw. I'm afraid he's not as consistent about it as we'd like. But he's back at school and the workload is building--as well as the pressure to get college applications started. So there's a lot on his plate!

New pictures from August 5 -- 10-days post-surgery. Looking pretty good!

Six Days Post Surgery

The adventure continues.

Tor felt pretty low on Saturday, but he's been asking for hugs to help him deal with it, and he says that helps a lot.

Getting Tor to eat enough is still a challenge. Last night, though, he managed some diluted mashed potatoes and even a little bit of sole meuniere (dissolved on the tongue). He's very tired of sweet shakes (especially chocolate), and was glad to have something savory. According to my notes from our pre-op appointment with Dr. Schendel, he is now entitled to move from a pure liquid diet to a "no chew" diet. This opens up more possibilities. Hopefully he'll get his caloric input up.

He has stopped taking the narcotic pain meds (he hated how they taste and they made him very sleepy). And he doesn't really need tylenol or ibuprofen, but takes them occasionally. We're still trying to keep him on track with 20 minutes of icing every hour. It's amazing how time flies when all you do is ice, sleep and eat.

Three days post-surgery

I repeat: It's great to be home. But now we start the long-haul of feeding Tor liquids and then soft foods for a few weeks.

The eating process is laborious and can be a bit frustrating. Tor is not allowed to use a straw, and his face is still a bit numb (as well as swollen). So he uses a large syringe with a tube at the end. He sucks the food up into the syringe and then injects it into the back of his mouth. Because he doesn't have much feeling in his lips, it sometimes dribbles back out. But he's getting better at it. This morning's oatmeal (blenderized with milk and brown sugar) and muscle milk didn't dribble out at all.

He got up several times in the night to ice his face and take pain meds. So he's still tired. But that's to be expected. I think we'll start to get into a routine today.

Here are the latest photos. Some of the swelling is definitely down. And after today we should see more improvement.

We're Home!

It's Thursday (two days post-surgery) and we're home! Things were going well yesterday, so this became the new "plan"-- to get him out of the hospital today.

Yesterday they took him off the IV because he was able to take pain meds orally. And his airway is staying nice and open. The reason to stay in the hospital is that they worry about airway swelling. But when I went to the hospital at 7:00 this morning one of the doctor's was there and he stuck a scope down Tor's nose to look at the throat. He declared it open and therefore okay for Tor to go home.

And was Tor ever ready to get out of there! Hospitals are noisy places.

Tor's biggest complaint right now (physically) is that his nose is stuffed up. That's part of what happens because of the swelling. The upper jaw is right below the nose. His mouth and nose are also dry. So they give him saline nasal spray and mouth rinse.

I actually think the facial swelling is down a bit.

It's great to be home.

A brighter outlook

Last night, Tor wrote on his white board "this is pretty rough." And this morning he wrote "Last night was pretty bad." But he feels somewhat better now. He has color back in his cheeks, he had some juice from a cup rather than a syringe, his catheter is out and he was able to pee on his own (hooray) and he's now watching Iron Man 2, one of his favorite movies. So I think things are looking up. Although now I look over at him and his eyes are closed with the movie on!

The nurse will be back shortly to get him up and walking and we'll go around the hall. That alone should give him a better feeling that things are on the uptick. And his "Full liquid" breakfast just arrived. So that means he's already allowed to eat things that aren't just clear liquids. So he's got some cream of wheat and milk. Will see if he wants it...

That's all for now!

Pretty swollen!

He's still Tor, but he looks a little different. Big chipmunk cheeks from the swelling. But I can also tell that the chin is further forward. At first glance, he looks more like his cousin Ryan than he did before! (Hi Ryan, I hope you're reading this! I don't think it's because you have chipmunk cheeks!)

He has an ice pack tied around his head that makes him look like an eskimo with a furry parka on. And he's snoring. Oxygen saturation is staying nice and high. The doctor said that he has a very nice big airway now, but the swelling might reduce that for a time.

Right now, he's getting some morphine and a steroid that will help a little bit with the swelling, but not much...