A Little Bump

Hmmm, we've not really hit one of these before. What does it mean when a doctor comes out from what was supposed to be a 5 minute surgery but had turned into a 45 minute surgery saying, "well, we've got some good news and some bad news" (nobody wants to hear that). "The good news is that Tessa's palate packing is out, the bad news is that 1/4 of her palate didn't heal properly from the surgery...we had to cut that part out". He was bummed. He drew us another picture explaining what had happened and explained in full detail what went wrong. Let me try to explain...we have tiny blood vessels in our palates and that is what the doctor connects the new tissue to...with hopes that the blood vessel will sustain the tissue and help it heal. This particular blood vessel wasn't large enough to sustain the tissue, so the tissue died. The tissue acts as an "island" in the mouth...an island that decreases the amount of space the tissue needs to go to connect to other tissue to form her palate. This all happened in the front of her mouth (the hard palate) where there is bone underneath. This is our saving grace...if this is going to happen anywhere...this is the best place for it to happen. Having the bone underneath helps with the tissue connecting itself. Granted, having the "island" there is obviously going to speed the healing process up as well as leaving less scar tissue. Dr. Wells thought it would take Tessa's mouth about a month to close up on its own.
"That's not so bad", I thought. He was still pretty disappointed. Maybe I'm not getting the full picture? He just really wanted it to be done properly...the first time.
About 5 minutes after he left I got the call to go back to comfort Tessa in the recovery room. She was a little drowsy but drank a ton of water, ate quite a few ice chips, and watching a nice chunk of Finding Nemo. :) They did end up putting an IV in her as well as a breathing tube. Now she has another "ouwie" to kiss on her hand.
We came home and the first thing she wanted to do was eat...a lot. I'm telling you, this girl doesn't miss a beat! She's amazing...sleeping hard right now...that's where I should be too!