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I’ve got a broken face!

For those of you who didn’t know (and I didn’t tell many people, so that’s probably most of you) I had some surgery on Monday. On my face. Well, neck. But it’s close enough for the Pixies reference in the title.

Several months back this gland under my right ear started swelling a bit, and then reducing back down to normal. I didn’t think too much of it, glands kinda do that, right? Well, shortly before Max was born, it started growing and not going back down to normal. Then it kept growing.

Due to Max’s hospitalization, followed by all the newness of a newborn around the house, I didn’t want to know yet about anything terrible. I couldn’t handle it. So I put off looking into it for a while. I know it’s stupid, but you just had to be me to understand I guess.

Anyway, a little over a month ago I finally started the process of getting it checked out. I first went to a ZoomCare near my house, they got me set up with some blood tests and an ultrasound, and then referred me to an ENT (ear nose & throat) specialist at Good Sam. After a visit with him (and a CT scan, which resulted in the image to the left) I was diagnosed with a somewhat common benign tumor in my parotid gland (one of the salivary glands). The tumor is more common with older folk than myself, but regardless, I had a tumor! Holy crap!

The solution to this was to have the entire parotid gland removed, which I had done on Monday. They had to make a pretty substantial incision to remove it (around/under my earlobe and way down my neck), and by doing so they had to sever some sensory nerve fibers that’s resulted in numbness of the right side of my face and neck, and my right ear is completely without feeling.

This surgery was my first time being put under, first time having stitches, being swollen, numb, misshapen and now groggy on painkillers. Stayed in the hospital Monday night and arrived home around noon yesterday.

Recovering OK now. Late this afternoon I had this drainage tube that was sutured into my neck removed, which had severely limited my movement and comfort. I was finally able to get cleaned up tonight, and I’m starting to feel more normal, but what with the swelling, and the concave area where my gland was, I’m feeling pretty deformed at the moment. My doctor assures me that in a month or two not only will I look pretty much back to normal, but I’ll have regained most of the feeling in my face.

I’m off this week from work, but will be going back in next week and will still be pretty misshapen for a few weeks, so when you see me, try not to be too mean with the Frankenstein’s Monster comments. 🙂

And now, for the Pixies song that inspired the title: Pixies – Broken Face

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Update 7 – Home at last!

As of 5pm on Tuesday, Max is finally home with Kelly and I. He’s doing really well, and doing what I imagine 3 week old infants should do: keeping Kelly and I up. He’s feeding well, and we have a pediatrician  appointment at 11am today so we’ll get to find out how he’s done since leaving the hospital. Hopefully he’s gained some weight and not lost any.

Anyway, there we have it, after some weeks and some heartache he’s finally home and the three of us are adjusting to our new lives. Thanks again for all your support.

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Update 6 – Hospital time nearly at an end

Big news since the last update.

Three days ago Max had another sensor removed (the oxygen sensor) so he’s only got his heart rate and respiration rate sensors left taped to his stomach and chest. Two days ago they gave him a hearing test which he passed with flying colors. And yesterday the nurse removed his feeding tube again. This was for two reasons; over the past week he’s increased what he’s been able to take via bottle (from an average of 30ml to 65ml per feeding), and they’ve begun to supplement his milk with a bit of formula to increase his caloric intake so they could reduce the volume they were previously pumping into his stomach via the tube.

Today he was given one of two immunizations they commonly give to babies who have had the diaphragmatic hernia and/or spent time in the NICU. Tomorrow he gets the second, and on Tuesday morning they’re going to do a car seat test to see how he reacts to an hour sitting in the car seat.

All this is because he’s getting closer and closer to being discharged and allowed to come home! The doctor said (assuming the formula addition results in some weight gain) he might be able to come home as early as Tuesday evening. (!!!)

I had a nasty head & chest cold this past week so I wasn’t allowed into the NICU, but today I finally was well enough to go in and see Max, and he looks awesome. He’s growing quickly (he’s three weeks old already!) and his surgery wounds are healing really well.

At any rate, he’s doing great, and if he continues to improve at the rate he has been for the past week we’ll have him home by mid next week. Here’s hoping the Mighty Max gains the weight the doctors want him to over the next few days!

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Update 5 – Still not home

The day after my last update, Max had his feeding tube re-inserted because he wasn’t eating enough. He needs to be able to take down a certain volume per day and was far away from that goal. Bit of a bummer but understandable.

Then he was diagnosed with thrush (warning: icky pics), which may help explain why he hasn’t been eating well. He’s been treated for that and it’s virtually gone now.

A couple days ago they removed the last of his IV’s (which was being used to both administer medication as well as provide nutrients). This was great news since it means that even though he may need to be fed via a tube in his nose, he’s getting all his sustenance through his mom’s milk now.

Yesterday they again removed the feeding tube to try to see if he would eat better. The hope was that rather than constantly filling Max’s tummy with 70 ml of milk every 3 hours on the dot, if they let him get hungry on his own and eat on his own he might eat enough via bottle. He eats a bit, but still not enough and it’s a lot of work (he’d wake up, eagerly feed for a minute or two, swallow some air, get fussy, burp, feed a bit more and then doze off and lose all interest in eating). His nurse called him stubborn. I have no idea where he got that from. Nope. No siree.

So while he’s eating a great deal more than he was (between 20 and 50 ml per feeding) it’s not enough, nor is it consistent between feedings. The result is that he’s lost a little bit of weight with the tube out, so it’s going back in and will be used to offset whatever he doesn’t eat on his own, to make sure he keeps his strength up and doesn’t get dehydrated.

The good news is that he’s recovering very well from his surgery, his respiration rate has dropped to more normal levels, he’s starting to eat like he should, and he looks awesome.

He’s just not home quite yet, and until he eats right, he won’t be. Hoping it’ll all click and he’ll start eating like a hungry baby should any day, but being realistic it could still take another week or more.

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Update 4 – Max on the mend

It’s been 3 days since the surgery, and Max is doing really well.

Yesterday he had the breathing tube and the stomach suction tube removed from his mouth/throat, and also had two of his four IV’s removed. We went to hang out with him twice yesterday (New Years Eve), the first time he was still pretty well sedated, but the second time in the evening he was awake and Kelly was able to hold him for a little bit. It was so nice to see his eyes again for the first time since the night before the surgery. One thing they added between the two visits was a feeding tube (run through his nose) since they were pretty sure they’d be introducing food (his momma’s milk) into his empty tummy soon.

Today was even better. Not only did they feed him, but they did it via a bottle and removed the tube in his nose! He ate a few times today and has been keeping it down. This is very good news; it’s normal for any baby to have some reflux issues, but it’s typically worse for infants who’ve undergone surgery like Max has. He’s taking small portions (5 milliliters  every three hours), and they are going to try to up the portion size overnight and into tomorrow.

While naturally we’re elated, we must also remain a bit cautious since he needs to be able to eat well consistently, gain some healthy weight (while at the same time losing some of his puffy/swollen weight from the surgery, IV’s, etc), and they need to watch his intestines carefully. The surgery basically pushed his intestines down into place, and they will hopefully stay in the right/correct position while he digests his food. He’s also pass this food out the other end to ensure everything is operating as it should. This will hopefully be a quick process, but this is what might take weeks before they’ll let him come home with us.

All in all however, he’s recovering quicker than we’d been prepared for. They weren’t expecting to remove the tubes, be reducing his morphine dosages, and feeding him until tomorrow or Monday at the earliest. It’s only a couple days early, but it’s making us feel so much better.

Today we both spent an hour holding the little man. He was awake and squirmy the whole time, but not fussy and just looking around and waving his arms all over the place. Such a huge improvement, and such a big relief.

For those who want to know what he looked like on Thursday afternoon (and you’re not squeamish) take a look at Mighty Max with his tubes and battle scars.

Thanks yet again for all your support and kind words over the past week. It has been and continues to be a huge help for Kelly and I.

Oh yeah, and Happy New Year!