Feeling the panic, looking for support. La Forte 1 surgery

[67CamaroGirlAR]

My 14 year old son was born with a severe bilateral cleft. We travel to Dallas on Sunday for surgery at Children's on Monday....

I'm in panic mode....

Between my son, and my 19 year old daughter who was born with a cleft lift... I've held them thru lip repair, soft palate reconstruction, flap construction, tonsillectomy, removal of adenoids, hard palate repair, fistula repair, four bone grafts, dental implants and rhinoplasty several times... Oh ya, and total take down of the lip and columella....... I've Helsinki my babies through more than 22 procedures... I'm no beginner !!!!!

But my son is having the La Forte 1, on Monday and I'm in panic mode about how radical this procedure is and what the recovery will be like, not to mention how much pain and swelling he will experience.

We will be in the hospital for several days, then a hotel for several more and I'm having a hard time dealing with how he and I can go through this on our own, and how much he's going to hate me when he wakes up for putting him through this....

I would love to talk to anyone who has been through this and can offer any support !!!!

[sarahorsomeone]

I had a Le Fort I last year (along with an operation on my bottom jaw). It wasn't fun, but it was completely worth it and not as bad as I thought it might be. There was never really any pain; in fact I got into an argument with the nurse the next morning because she was trying to make me take morphine I didn't need! I'd say the pain was much less than having my braces adjusted.

The main problem was feeling claustrophobic in my own face due to the swelling, but that only lasted a few days. My swelling was pretty bad, according to my surgeon I pretty much got the worse-case scenario for that side of things (and he didn't see me at my worst), but they put me on steroids to bring it down and by a week it really wasn't that dramatic. In the long-term (over the next few weeks) the worst thing was difficulty sleeping, I had to sleep in a chair for about 5 or 6 weeks to stop the swelling coming back up again; but I got the hang of that after not-too long. I also had a bit of sleep apnoa from the swelling until I found a good position to sleep in. It was also a bit yucky not being allowed to blow my nose for a couple of weeks, and the first night home I choked a little on some mucus and blood-clots, but I found using a steam inhaler helped to liquify things and make it more comfortable.

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask me.

[67CamaroGirlAR]

Thank you so much for your response. My son had his surgery done on Monday and things are going pretty well. The swelling has not been bad until today, and his pain is almost non-existent. His upper jaw was in three pieces so he also had a bone graft and according to his surgeon, the material used in the bone graft is causing the excessive swelling.

Right now my challenge is in keeping him eating, today he drank two small milkshakes and that was it...I'm going to have to work on that. I think he's a little depressed because of the swelling, hopefully this will pass quickly.

Thanks again for your response.

Tracye