So 24 hours after the surgery they moved him up to a regular pediatric room.  I’m sure that he would have bristled at the idea that he was considered a “child”…until he learned that pediatric rooms have Xboxes.  That made day 2 a bunch easier. He was supposed to come home the day after surgery but the problem with breathing added a day to his sentence. They took out his NG tube and his nurse said it was the first time that a patient had indicated that procedure was “cool.”

Clear liquid diet at the hospital leaves something to be desired.

But he played on his phone, xbox, TV, worried about his swollen face, about his jaw being wired shut, about pain, about yawning.  Lots of worrying.

This morning (Friday) they discharged him. He’s home, sleeping, still worrying. It looks like someone dared him to eat a bee. When I told him that he said “Jokes on them – I got the twenty bucks”

We were up at 4am to get to the hospital.  Bennett was all prepped and ready to go at 7 for his surgery.  He was very nervous but still managed to give me a thumbs up.  Then I waited…and walked….and waited…and tried to nap in the waiting room.  Pretty much I can sleep anywhere but this was really a challenge.

Dr. D came out about 1130 to tell me that everything had gone well and that Ben was in recovery and he should be in a room in about 60 minutes.  60, 70,80,90 minutes go by until someone tells me that when they removed the air tube his breathing wasn’t supplying enough oxygen to his blood.  About 459 people asked if he had sleep apnea.  They put him on a BiPap machine which is just like one of those oxygen masks  you see on a hospital TV show but bigger, louder and scarier.  After a couple of hours they let me into the recovery room because I think they could tell I was getting antsy.  He looked pretty awful.  The jaw surgery left him swollen, he had an NG tube, the bi Pap machine and IVs in both hands with additional gauze and tape on the inside of his wrists.

Plus he had a “jaw bra” holding his mouth closed…very Marley in Christmas Carol.  I couldn’t take a photo in there. So you’ll have to take my word for it.

Finally they decided to move him into the ICU for the night so he’d get more focused nursing.  By the time I was allowed to see him there they had him off of the assisted breathing.  I wasn’t supposed to take photos there either….but I did.  See what I mean about the Marley thing?

This may sum up Bennett pretty well. This was at the surgical consult…or maybe a dress rehearsal for a very odd Hamlet.  Either way.