Surgery is over. Dr. Bauer and Dr. Patel came over and reported on how it went. They were very proud of what they achieved in the operation. What was done was to adjust the upper jaw to symmetry and remove a large amount of fatty tissue on the right cheek. What was not done was the rotation of the lower jaw. They felt that adding another incision would inhibit the ability of the skin to get blood supply so they decided to put that off for now and do that next time together with the ear reduction. We had to wait about an hour before seeing her. Ella was moved to the intensive care unit where we saw her. Of course the first encounter right after surgery is scary. Swollen on one side with blood and bandages she looks Ella with a bit of Uday Hussein after being captured (if you’ve seen those photos). Ella is still sedated and seems relaxed. I am glad she gets to spend the first night after surgery asleep, hopefully avoiding most of the pain. The care she is getting here is superb, with constant monitoring and tending to her. It is hard to see much of her face as there is a big bandage on the right side and what is exposed is very swollen, but her nose and mouth seem more centered in her face. I’m worried about how she will fare through the next few days.
I am sure there will be pain, how could there not? Her facial bones were cut in 5 places and the right side of her face opened and exposed with parts removed. Hopefully she will get enough sedation to make it bearable. I also don’t know how she will manage the basic functions of eating and drinking with this new facial configuration. We will probably need to go back to spoon feeding for a while. I don’t know what she will make of all of this. One moment she is listening to music with a nice doctor checking her over, the next she wakes up with different feeling mouth, lots of pain and bandages all over. I hope it won’t turn her off music (or nice doctors). It’s a relief to have this major part of her reconstructive surgery over.