Recovery Day 3

Well LM slept 8 hrs without any pain meds. Decided to start weaning him off the Tylenol 3 and use ibprofen and tylenol for pain management. He seem to be ok with this with very little complaints. He is a lot more active today.

I am not sure if spacing out the meds made it hard to take a nap. But he was unable to take a nap but still did pretty good today. He is still very clingy, I am unable to do anything unless I am in touching range.

We took him to Costco today. He liked getting out. Again I had to push the cart. He still only wants me. Will have to work on him getting some Daddy time so Mom does wear out. My RA is acting up with the extra duties of his care and am trying to take care of myself.

Today PT started acting out. She is tired of him getting all the attention. She says she understands but still acted out. I was able to give her Mommy time and this seemed to help.

LM was back to wanting the rocker tonight. I read a story then he decided he wanted his bed and asked for Dad. So things are slowly getting back to a normal.

Recovery Day 2

The second day of recovery has gone well. I took LM to speech therapy and he still is talking. She noticed that he is a lot more active and seems more into his lessons. Probably due to the lack of active play, I tried to add a little more active play that didn’t involve much worry for me that he would hit his face. We took a short walk and looked at the different things around the house. I also took him out grocery shopping and he seemed to do fine. He said he was ready to go home.

Tonight was PT dance recital, we decided LM could handle going out and see his sister dance. He was a change person. He was interacting with other and seemed to be enjoying himself until he started not listening again and we had to place in between us. He thought he could throw a fit but saw that we didn't react and he would get a time-in if he didn't stop. He sat reluctantly. He did pretty good for him. About half way through he said was done. We ended up distracting him by telling him when his friends and sister were dancing. This helped and we were able to see all PT dances. Her last dance was the second to last one so we knew it was going to be tough for LM.

Recovery Day 1

The first day of recovery went real well. LM is starting to be more himself again. He only asked a couple of times when will be take out the nose stents.

I keep the pain meds on schedule and that seems to help. LM is a little clingy as to be expected. He took a two hour nap and woke up happy. We watched a lot of movies and tried to keep him from hurting himself. It is hard to keep an active boy calm. I forgot how much energy a 5 year has.

I think we have started a new nighttime routine, He grab his blanket and went to the rocking chair and asked to be rocked to sleep. Usually he can’t get comfortable in my lap but the last two nights he falls instantly to sleep. I think it helped to let him sleep without the no-nos. He slept 8 hours with waking only once for bathroom and pain meds.

Surgery May 10, 2011

Well we survived surgery. Everything went as planned. LM was third in line for surgery. His surgery was scheduled for 11 am. So we were able to take PT to school and arrive at CHLA before 9 am.

They have changed up where you waited and used more technology since we were there for PT. I almost forgot that it has been 8 years since PT first surgery @ CHLA. They assign each patient with a number. Then you have a big screen telling you where the patient is at.

LM's surgery was scheduled for 2 hours and he was in the OR for 2 1/4 hours. Dr. Magee came out and said everything went as planned. They narrow the lip and placed nose stents in. I didn't realize that nose revision meant nose stents. Boy was LM mad. He does not like them. As expected he woke up mad and would only calm down for me. He drank an apple juice and had two Popsicles before we left. They sent him home with an apple juice which he proceed to drink on the way home.

He slept a little on the way home but didn't take a nap before bed. They wanted him to wear his no-no at night. LM still uses his thumb for self soothing and was mad that he could suck his thumb. When we got home he said he was hungry. So I made some noodles for him since he can only have soft food for a couple of days. Then I made macaroni and cheese for PT and DH for supper. LM proceed to eat his share of the mac and cheese. While I was with PT in music classes, DH feed him another bowl of noodles and a small bowl of ice cream. I brought him another small dish of ice cream home.

LM had a hard time getting to sleep but finally feel asleep in my arm in the rocking chair. That was a first for him and me. I was able to place him in his bed after a hour asleep in my arms and he sleep for 6 hours.

Surgery Time

The prep has started! LM is schedule for a lip and nose revision on May 10 at CHLA. Now I need to keep my emotions in tact for him. This is his first surgery with his forever family. I remember the emotions I went thru with PT first surgery @ 7 week old. The are different this time. They are not any easier but different. I think what is making it different is my stress level is different this time. I am not worrying about having to go back to work. Even though I was on leave with PT, I was heading back in work a few week later. I can give LM my undivided attention.

Some things are the same. How will he do under anesthesia? How will he handle waking up after surgery? Then the biggie that get me ever time is : Is this truly necessary? I know it is but does not make it any easier!

I hate, let me say that again I hate to see my little ones in pain. I know I have to keep an eye on the pain meds but this is the hard part of surgery no matter how much pain meds you have there is still some pain they only dull it.

Closing thoughts ( More to help me)

Isaiah 43: 2 When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up. The flames will not consume you.

Jeremiah 30:17 "I will restore you to health and heal your wounds," declares the Lord.

Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

Deuteronomy 31:8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

Now I am off to make my checklist and get my surgery pack ready.

Selective Mutism

Finally an update!

We thought we were prepared for everything when coming to adopting our son. We read every book we could read. Trying to remember no two children are the same. We knew about cleft lip and palate before choosing a son with one. In this we knew that not two children are the same. We knew about RAD, AHAD, ADD, PTSD and other adoption related disorders.

But Selective Mutism was never on our radar. We recently have been doing a bunch of research on adoptive children and selective mutism. We are able only to find a little information. We are in new horizons with our son.

I am surprised how this has changed my thinking on what school he should attend. I researched schools when my daughter entered kindergarten thinking that this school will work for my son. I forgot to remember that no two children are the same and research for him I must. My research has taken a different turn than I thought. I have always thought my kids will go to private school. But is that the right choice for my son? He has different needs which is not very well supported in most private school. I have been on so many school tours and getting tired of filling out all these forms for school. I never knew have many forms public school had compared to daughter private school. I have one more school to look at and I am done and waiting for the Lottery to be done at a variety of schools. We may just end up @ a local public school waiting for an opening at the school of choice. At least he will get the services needed that are on campus and does not need to be taken from school to go like he would in private school. This is the hardest decision I have to make in a long time. We want the best for him and will do anything to make sure he has the best education we can give and be a supportive parents to him. I realize no one is perfect but I hate to make the wrong decision.

LM does not do well with change. This is why it is so hard of a decision. He needs a school that goes K-8. Not many of those schools in our area. I am going to trust and put my faith that the right decision will be made and we can move on. LM is a fun bright person whom we love dearly and hope with help we can overcome this.

He Talks

LM is finally talking to his speech therapist and his teachers. It has been a long process but he finally decided talking to others is not so bad. He was slow to talk to us but that only lasted a couple of weeks. He held out for 14 months for his preschool and preK teachers. I was crying when I found out what he was clearly talking about in school. Since we are near Thanksgiving, they are talking about families and the holidays. He drew a family picture with things we do as a family. They have each child talk about what they drew. I figured he would just stand there saying very little like he usually does but I guess he was loud clear and distinct in telling everyone about his family. Not his favorite toy and not favorite things it was his family. What a special little boy we have! We are blessed and thankful for him everyday. We have had our struggles but this little boy loves his family and we love him back.