<p>Hi folks. I haven’t been here for a while. Son is scheduled for the surgery next week. Did your girls have it yet Carolyn, Curmudgeon? How did it go? Please respond. I’m worried. Son is so thin and having his mouth wired shut for weeks is upsetting me. How did you deal with that? Thinking Ensure, here? Son will have is upper palate spit in 3, bottom 2. REALLY WORRIED PARENT HERE. Please respond.
Also, Susan, how’s it going with your daughter’s recovery too?
(sorry, I haven’t been here, don’t know what’s going on.)</p>
<p>bhg,
not c or c but my thoughts are with you. My son had pyloric stenosis when he was 6 weeks old … so I know about the not eating part. Remind yourself that kids are a lot more resiliant than we are!</p>
<p>Welcome back. Wishing your son the best as he goes through his surgery. All parents worry about things like this with their children but he is going to be all right. If you can arm yourself with information, sometimes that helps. Read about it online and research it some more. Also ask the doctor about your concerns because the eating thing is an issue for any kid who has this done and they do OK so maybe they can help allay your fears. It is good that you also talk to Curm because his D is having it done this week (or just had it done actually). </p>
<p>Thanks for asking about my daughter’s recovery. I can’t stay online and won’t be hardly on for the next four days. However, forum friends on the musical theater forum also asked me this question recently so I am going to paste my response from there, here (with minor updates):</p>
<p>My daughter is doing GREAT and it almost seems like a miracle considering the severity of the accident and her injuries. We knew she’d recover in time for college but right now, I would say she is just about fully recovered and it has been three months. She may not be in the same as her usual condition but she is gettin’ close, and way ahead of any expectations. She got off crutches the day before prom four weeks ago and was walking and appearing “normal”. That same weekend was her final dance performance and of course, it was disappointing after ten years of that studio, going almost every day and also being in their select repertory company, that she could not perform this last time. However, she finished choreographing the tap dance she had taught to her troupe the day of her accident and it was well received. And then each year the director choreographs a lyrical “senior dance” for any seniors in the troupe and there are three, her being one of them. But the dance was to Lennon’s Imagine, as sung in the style of Eva Cassidy and coincidentally, my D has recorded a demo CD with that song on it and they had her sing the song live, with her dad accompanying on guitar as the other two girls danced it and it was a tear jerker. But I felt like it was a lovely way to include her in the entire show (she’d normally have been in numerous dances and this was likely her last pointe ballet dance for a long time) and also I felt like it was quite the triumph to see this kid walk onto the stage and perform, just two days off crutches and just two months out of intensive care and it felt like a miracle…I think people were surprised to see her in this good shape (word spread around the region about it). She also sang that song in front of her school the other day and got a standing ovation and it was a nice way to have a moment on stage, considering she missed the musical and stuff like that. She also performed on vocals with jazz band. </p>
<p>She is still in physical therapy three times per week. She is doing so well that they told her she could try dance classes which she has done for the past two weeks! We thought it would be around August for that! And she did three and felt good, a little sore afterwards but also she has not danced in three months. She just finished school a few days ago and graduation is tomorrow! Then she leaves Sunday for one last time at her summer theater program, her 8th season there, but is only going to go for three weeks. When she first was so injured, we did not think she could go back and then we revised that to going back but not doing a role that involves dance and now she feels like she could do any role, even a dance one. Immediately following that, she is doing a local professional adult production of Bat Boy where they bring in some NYC actors for the production. And then she and another friend created and organized a program they are going to direct for kids ages 9-14 in August and not only instruct them in voice, acting, and dance but also direct them in a musical theater cabaret she will write. The kids have signed up, she secured the local theater space and she is going to earn quite a bit of mulah in those two weeks, to take to college in the fall. So, her summer is going to be just what was planned before the accident. While she missed many of her “lasts” this spring…school musical, numerous dance shows, etc, in the scheme of things, she is a very very very lucky girl and miraculously lived and will have a second chance to make her mark on the world. She looks the same and she certainly is now expected to do all she ever did and planned on. It is a very happy result, though she has been through so much with it and so much pain. I’m sure her life is forever changed by this experience. And she is now driving again, by the way, but no interstate. And I have been brave, given that experience, that I let my 18 year old D drive 6000 miles in recent weeks, all the way to Alaska where she just flew in from very late last night! It all went smoothly, whew. But the sixteen year old is going to be in NYC next year, so she won’t be driving very much! </p>
<p>We are all so thankful for this recovery and also for the tons of people both locally and from far away and from the internet, too who have cared so deeply about this. We all know it could have been any of our kids and we are so lucky she is alive, and not maimed or does not have lifelong injuries/affects or complications. Unfortunately, some have not survived this kind of thing. The fact that she can perform again…wow, someone was looking after her. </p>
<p>Thank you SO much. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>BHG, hang in there. As Susan said, read about it on the internet to calm your fears. Ask the doctor as well if nutrition is a concern.</p>
<p>Praying for your son’s quick recovery.</p>
<p>Wow, congratultions. You daughter is doing REALLY well. Nice to see her vocal cords were not affected at all, too! I mean, this was a good opportunity for her to work on her singing.And no tramatic affects.She must have been a real stable and confident kid to go through all this and come out so well. You must be so relieved. If it were me I would be saying prayers of thanks regularly now. (if I hadn’t beeen praying before!) Congratulations again. V
I don’t think I’m coming back permanently to this site. This site requires ALOT of time, and it addictive. I didn’t think I could kick the C.C. habit but once you gop back to a normal life, I wondered why the heck I gave this site so much time to begin with!!
At any rate, I’m a basket case about the surgery. Thanks Ohio Mom.</p>
<p>Wow, Soozie, what a wonderful post to read!</p>
<p>Hi Achat. Nice to see you too. Son just registered and is taking engineering classes at Penn State next Fall, including a mechanical engineering one.How about that. He got through the AP Phyics and Cal well. So I guess he will be on the engineering ride for a while there.
How goes it with your son? Is he still happy there. What a NICE college, has he joined the cricket team? (hey, don’t LAUGH, CRICKET IS FUN!) The prettiest school tucked away in those large old oaks and ivy halls. How’s it going there?</p>
<p>Hi BHG,
Thanks for asking…and congrats to your son. At a time when the country desperately needs science/engineering kids, your son is doing the right thing. If I have time, I’ll show you articles about the call for more kids to go into science/engineering now in the US by top administrators of colleges. </p>
<p>Anyway, son is doing fine at Swarthmore. He is there for the summer working in the library on the Peace collection archives and staying there. He’s isn’t into sports and doesn’t know what a cricket bat looks like. </p>
<p>Praying for your son…everything will be all right. Do check in from time to time.</p>
<p>Curmudge has checked in several times on Sinner’s Alley in the cafe if you want to check while waiting til he sees this thread. Things went well.</p>
<p>Or send him a PM…as well as PM Carolyn. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.</p>
<p>Great news on your D Soozie!</p>
<p>BHG, well worth it. We had a great result. I made them give me before and after x-rays -remarkable. Her lower lip looks like something from a sixties era national geographic, but really is cool to see that profile. Yeah! Her teeth all hit together. Swelling is atrocious and they say will get worse. Bruising-not so bad. D did not have her palate split.We have the same weight issues but recovery time prior to some soft food isn’t that long. They’ll survive.Will post more later. It IS definitely worth it. I’m going to come up with as much for you and carolyn as I can and if you email me ,I’ll send it to you. But probably will be over the weekend. I’m prety zonked. Biggest issue? Nausea. D’s biggest issue? See aforementioned lip.</p>
<p>Who has the nausea? I’m worried about the top being cut because the brain is up there. I know what you mean about all the teeth coming together. I was shocked when I saw son’s teeth were so misaligned. I mean, he spent 6 yrs in braces- now, 4 yrs later, this! Yes, I know everyone is telling me this surgery is necessary.</p>
<p>I think both of us had some nausea, only they only seemed concerned with hers. LOL. She’s sleeping soundly now and has been since noon or so. I actually dozed off in the chair myself! Awakened and can’t reach my office by phone. “When the cat’s away-the mice will take off early and busy up the phone lines to pretend they are still there.”-Ben Franklin, I think.</p>
<p>Big South Pacific hugs to all the Ds and Ss…glad to hear it all went well for mini-mudge, cur. </p>
<p>6 years in braces does sound like punishment enough, BHG.</p>
<p>bhg -</p>
<p>Been there, done that. Don’t know about Ensure, but what got us through it all were chocolate milkshakes and cheese soup. It is IMPOSSIBLE to get tired of chocolate milkshakes, especially through a straw that’s placed in the mouth waaay back to get through the only space available for any liquid to go through.</p>
<p>Good luck. And thanks, Susan, for the update.</p>
<p>-Bob</p>
<p>Best wishes to daughter of Curmudgeon. In a short while the only remainder from this unpleasantness will be a beautiful smile. </p>
<p>Any one hear how things went with Mezzomom’s daughter’s knee operation?</p>
<p>Ensure is a bit nasty tasting, IMO, but you can mix a bit of it into a milkshake and then you can barely taste it. It ups the calorie count for those who are concerned about skinny kids, as well as providing a lot of vitamins and minerals. A little bottle of it (8oz, I think) is 250 calories.</p>
<p>About 10 years ago my daughter had a parasite that cause horrible cramping and weight lose. After losing 5 lbs of her 65lbs. she was started on medication that cause more cramping when she ate, so she was afraid to eat. The doctor told her she needed to gain her weight back and to follow this schedule-no low fat or fat free milk or foods and 2 desserts every day. Now, I was a mother that tried to keep a lot of junk food out of the house, but we did have plenty of cookies and such. After a few weeks of the double dessert we were at a basketball game where they were serving the ice cream, dippin’ dots. As she is stuffing her face with her second dessert of the day, she looks up at her dad and says, “I really could get into having dessert all the time!” Well she was able to gain her weight back and then some; puberty took over. </p>
<p>So if weight gain is a problem, try dippin’ dots!!!
<a href=“http://www.dippindots.com/home.asp[/url]”>http://www.dippindots.com/home.asp</a></p>
<p>In high school my cousin had a horrible car accident. He had his jaw wired shut for 4 or 5 months. He was a big boy and loved to eat. His mom liquified EVERYTHING in the blender. I specifically remember him eating tacos (hard taco shell and all) through a straw. It wasn’t very appetizing for those watching, but he seemed to enjoy it. </p>
<p>Susan, glad she’s progressing so quickly. </p>
<p>BHG, sending you and your son good wishes.</p>