12 Days Out and then some.......

Above picture taken Wednesday, Aug 26th, 13 days postop ---After a concern that the cheek implant had possibly moved, Taylor was seen in Dr. Genecov's office on Thursday afternoon in Dallas. The Dr. assured Taylor that the implant was in the proper place and that the problem noticed the prior day was from his prosthetic eye. The eye had moved during the night due to pressure placed on the side of the face. This had never happened before and so there was concern on our part as well. All turned out just fine and we are all relieved and also glad that Taylor was able to speak to the Dr about any questions or concerns that he had about how he has been coming along.

Friday, August 21...

Taylor is feeling better and just kind of doing his own thing. Here is a picture of him after he woke up on friday a.m. You will notice the swelling/puffiness under the left eye and out towards the cheek which has turned out to be extremely firm (unsure what it is that we are feeling?? note into the Dr.'s office) and the upper lid has not poked out from all the swelling that see is seen.

Post-Op

Post-Op Day 5

On the Road to the Dr. on Monday, Taylor was having a struggle with Nausea although not alot of pain. Those on the Central Expressway got more than they bargained for if they looked over at Tay at just the right time. By the time we got to the Dr, he had lost most of the liquids he had taken for the morning.

Dr Genecov left town during the weekend and Dr. Barcelo did Taylor's followup and agreed to let him head home to NM. He changed Taylor to all liquid medications with the hope that the change in meds would keep down the nausea and allow Taylor to begin eating and regain strength. We left immediately after the appointment, headed to our headquarters in Arlington, packed up and were on the road a little after 4 Texas time. A quick trip through Abilene, Taylor, Oliver and I made it back to Clovis a quarter til 11 NM time.


Sunday---Day 4 Post-Op.

This is the day that Taylor had been looking for. Back to solid foods! He opened the morning with half a mini-bagel. Able to eat some, get out of bed a for quite awhile. Thought that he was on the mend until he woke up on Monday nauseated again... Face looking good symmetrically on the temple and cheek. Looking forward to the "final" look after swelling reduces more. Bruising is starting to lighten.




Saturday---NOT a good day... 3rd day post-op



Taylor woke up this morning feeling awful. Had vomitting all day, and had to make a late night run to the all-night Walgreens Pharmacy in Longview to get some Phenergen so the boy could get some rest and some relief. It appeared the swelling had moved into the other side of his face and the area under his chin/neck took on some swelling as well. Spent the whole day in bed except the times that he attempted to sit in the LR and ended up back in bed.


No Posting for Friday.

Way too busy shuffling Bryan to the airport,
sending out invites for "2 Shabby Divas" and moving to
Holly Lake Ranch for the weekend.

Thurs Evening...

Ahhhhh....Taylor came home today! Well, to Aunt Holly's & Uncle Jim's. I got the call that he had been discharged a little before 11 a.m. so off I went to go get him and his pa from the hospital.

Tay made the 40 minute trip back to the house just fine and then had some chicken noodle soup (swallow noodles, don't chew) & strawberry cheesecake yogurt for dessert, at the table.

A little downtime in bed and on the computer in the afternoon, and then up for some Ramen (swallow the noodles, don't swallow) for dinner and again---at the table!

We feel that he is moving along just fine at a pretty rapid pace. Swelling is starting to subside and pain is not too horribly bad.

It appears with the swelling of his face that he had a wisdom tooth pulled and his suffering with extensive swelling. He says the side of his face is numb and basically can't feel when touching it.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers...

Morning After....

So it's the morning after and Bryan has sent me via IPhone a morning pic of Taylor. Dr. came in at 6:45 and pulled the drainage tube. Taylor is keeping down his liquid diet and pain is minimal.

Still unable to tolerate an icepack to the face so his swelling may be more than expected, but hey---if he's okay with it, then I am!

Off to the store to get his liquid diet for the week!!

We are told he will be discharged somewhere between 11 and noon...yay!

Taylor After Surgery

Surgery went well. He was in for about 2.5 hours. Along with the previously mentioned procedures, the Dr. decided to go ahead and put more fat into the bottom eyelid. Interestingly enough, the tissue came from the inside of the naval. So no scarring, no "fat" lost from my 118 lb boy!

The filing down on the temple was more extensive than originally thought so a drain hose was needed to remove any fluid buildup that may cause pressure and additional swelling.

An outpatient stay became an overnight stay which we were very thankful for. His liquid diet wouldn't stay down and without the morphine he was a miserable guy.

And just so you know, if you are new here, these pictures are posted with Taylor's permission.
Bryan stayed the night and I came back to my sister/brother in laws to stay the night with Oliver.

Surgery at Noon Today...

If you are new here, please check out all the way to the beginning to understand why Taylor is having surgery in the first place! A victim of Retinoblastoma when he was 3 years old, he has endured numerous surgeries and radiation. Now 18 year later, Taylor has had the opportunity to get reconstructive surgery to fix the left side of his face where radiation caused the bones not to grow and to fix the eyelids that have needed some "plumping up".

He went in for surgery at 12:55 and we are expecting him to be in surgery for 2 to 2.5 hours. The Dr. told us yesterday that it should only be day surgery We will, however, be staying in the Dallas area for a week or so.


Today: 1) Insert cheek implant through the mouth, slide into place and attach via screw. 2) Remove fat (if you know Taylor, he has zero on the body--but any-who) from abdomen and insert into upper eyelid. 3) Make incision left side of head and work way up to the left temple to file down and smooth the bone paste that was inserted last surgery in April, making more even to match the right temple.

Thanks for checking in on Taylor! Your prayers and well-wishes are most appreciated.