Pictures pictures

Playing with new palate

Just me....

What the two brothers have in common?

Nappy for sleep!!!

After Ops Day 4

Milk, Juice or Mix of both? What does Caden really wants?

Mummy at wits end so all fluids were prepared at different temperature to see what the little gem preferred but seemed he wanted none although his hunger was obvious. Why?

Estimated total fluid consumed in the day - 250 ml. Better than the previous days. However as the day goes, he seemed to reject drinking more although hungry. He pursed his lips so tight even grandma has trouble opening his mouth.x

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Is he having a sore throat, mouth ulcer or is his palate still hurting? Caden will drink eagerly initially but after a couple of sips, he suddenly stopped and closed his mouth so tight as if a sore point is hit. He is letargic most times and slept a lot, which is unusual of the baby. This worried mummy as these may be signs for dehydration. She has to 'force' fluid down his throat although the experiences were not pleasant.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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It's going to be Day 5, when will Caden accept bottle feeding again?xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

One of the conversations in the day.......

Mummy>Caleb: Caleb, look at didi (little brother), is he happy or sad?xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

*Caleb took a look at Caden, paused before replying*

Caleb>Mummy: Sad.

After Ops Day 3

Much of the after ops mucus and phlegm is clearing and Caden is not choking on them in his sleep as much now although he is still 'snoring'. Feeding continued to be so-so but there was attempt to bite on the sippy cup teat at clinic review this morning. He is feeding at about 4-5 hour interval in the day. The best he did was about 90ml of fluid and that was quite by 'force' becos mummy thinks he may dehydrating seeing him getting more letargic. The ret of the feeding,he only took 10-20ml of fluid.

Nurse exmined his palate cleanliness today and commented it is clean....well it is quite obvious becos he is not drinking much milk. Nurse taught mummy how to flush palate with syringe and water should there be milk or medicne stains on stitches, identified by white obvious patches.

As for ear update, daddy and mummy are too upset to comment. They are thinking what are next steps regarding ear treatment. Will update then. Meanwhile, prayer request for ear is that his hearing or ears are not affected by the unnecessary procedures done by the ENT 'goon(s)', which included an incision made on ear membrane.

After Ops Day 2: At Home

Caden is not taking feed very well as yet, which is expected. Before ops, he was on 180ml every 3 to 4 hourly. Now, either he does not drink or the most he took was 80ml (diluted) and this was only 1 epidsde.

Milk feed needs to be diluted - half strength. To enhance taste, juice is added. If he rejects milk, juice, for time being is fine as well. Options for feed - by Syringe, squeezable bottle or sippy cup with a super soft teat. Caden so far is taking through syringe best. After feed, his mouth needs to be flushed with clear water to prevent milk powder/medcine sediments from sticking onto the stitches.

This one week is crucial. Much of recovery should take place by end of the week if all are progressing well. Palate must not be damaged or else there it will be a long tedious treatment process and results will not be perfect.

Both Caden's arms are on bounded with 'guard' made of spectula - prevent bending of arms to put fingers into his mouth to damage palate. When sleeping in the night, arms are additionally pinned down, with limited movement in case the arm guards fall out as mummy and daddy will be sleeping too.

Prayer requests:
- Pray against dehydration as he is not taking in mch fluid and also not passing urine much
- Pray the palate will not be damaged and there is no chance for Caden to put his fingers into his mouth.
- Pray his mild temperature will go away
- Pray he will progress with milk/juice feed on bottle
- Pray against infection and that his mouth/stitches are cleaned well after each feeding.

Caden Braving the Last Storm

Caden is now at the high dependency ward and mummy is staying overnight with him becos he knows how to recognize and search for her already. Overall he seems fine although uncomfortable with 2 splints on both hands and naturally the pain that comes with it.

Operation took about 3 hours - palate repair took 1 hour and the rest was for ear treatment and hearing test. It seems that no grommet was inserted, according to his case notes but we are going to ask the ENT doctor tomorrow about details.

When he was just out of OT, he was more drowsy than he was with the previous surgeries and oxygen intake wasn't stable and good. Was at recovery room for about an hour before sending him to ward. As he was more awake from sedation, his oxygen intake resumes to normal level at about 98%-100%, which is good.

He is on glucose and drip today. Glucose and medicine by syringe, which he is taking well. Boy he loves the sweet glucose and all the more when it's made in cold cold water. Very soothing to his palate wound. Tomorrow trying him on diluted milk and nurse teaching us how to flush (cleanse) his wound after feed.

Nurse said the coming 1 week is crucial - if anythg were to happen to the palate wound eg. got a tear/hole or wound breakdown, it would have been this week. If cross this week and nothing happens, most likely all will be fine and he will be on road to recovery.

Please pray:
- smooth and speedy recovery

- his nose is congested with mucus and seems to have more when drinking fluid, please pray for mucus to clear and there is no leakage of palate or breakage of wound
- no break down/infection of wound
- no pain
- good feeding, that he will be able to coordinte well on his sucking and swallowing and breathing

- no milk stain or dirt on stitches
- good oxygen intake
- good health and protection on whole family's health during this period of time

Will update on ear once we get more details of it.

Ohh....if feeding is good, Caden gets to go home by tomorrow (Wed) evening. Please pray that this will be so as his sleep is very disturbed in the ward due to noise and light.

Caden's update

Caden's ops is postponed from Nov 3 to Nov 17. In this ops, surgeries will be done to repair the cleft palate as well as inserting a grommet in both ears. Grommet is to drain off fluid in his middle ear.

Please pray for:
- good health before and after ops for whole family
- feeding to be easy and that his pain is bearable. blood mix with milk is not a good taste.
- no infection of stitches on palate after ops
- smooth operation as 2 surgeries will be performed.

Will update more after ops if there are more prayer requests. =)