Dos and Don'ts for Palate Surgery

Here was some great information that someone just posted on my cleft board. I am already starting to get nervous about Shelby's palate surgery on April 7! I pray everyday that her surgery will be successful and as painless as possible. This little girl has already been through so much, the thought of putting her through more pain is heartbreaking. I realize that the surgery is necessary and is of course going to make her life easier in terms of long term speech. But it still makes me sad that she is going to have to endure another surgery. I have heard alot about the surgeries that are done in China and about the non-use of pain medications after surgery. When I think about Shelby sitting in a hospital bed for 2 weeks by herself without her foster mom or pain medication- it just breaks my heart :( I really hope that her surgery did not take place that way, but I guess I will never really know what she had to endure during her first surgery. I so pray that this upcoming surgery will be as painless as possible!

Here was the post of dos and don'ts for palate surgery moms:

It always makes me feel better to write and hope my experiences will help others so here's what I've recently learned (we're on day four post-op)


Do: Right after surgery expect a lot of mucus with blood coming from nose and mouth, think of wearing a dark colored older shirt to be able to hold your child for hours in

Do: Expect your child's face, feet and hands to be swollen for a few days

Do: Expect your child's body weight to feel as if it has tripled during surgery when they are in recovery

Do: Expect night terror behavior when they are still waking up (I knew to expect this and even though Kaylee didn't experience it, I heard other children around us doing it and parents scared and not knowing how to deal with it)

Do: Expect a cranky child for days, even with pain meds

Do: Plan ahead to have every possible food to put in the blender and/or soft foods (for example, puddings, yogurts, jello, soups) and plan for your child to turn their nose up at most of themExpect TONS of drooling, get ready with extra bibs; Kaylee is going through 4+ shirt and bib changes daily right now

Do: Expect to feel as if you were physically the one in surgery, full time care of a child after surgery is exhausting

Do: Expect your child to have the most foul smelling breath you've ever smelled in your life!

Do: Expect your child to act like they haven't napped in days..Remember your sweet child is still there, they've just undergone a surgery that's going to have them not feeling themselves for a little while but you'll both be happy after it's all said and done

Don't:Expect your child to be themselves quickly, they are dealing with a lot of pain, the overwhelming concept of a liquid diet, wearing no-no's and not knowing quite how to deal with any of it; plus pain meds can affect your child's personality

Don't: Be afraid to ask for pain meds that you feel your child needs, they wanted to give Kaylee pain meds orally several hours after surgery but the taste of it made her not want to drink so the next time we were due for meds, I requested it be put in her IV, she started drinking again soon after

Don't: Forget to keep yourself fed, even when your child cries wanting real food with you (if you aren't able to eat out of their sight), you have to keep yourself fed to be able to keep your energy up

Don't: Forget to stock up on groceries for the house before surgery so you don't have to leave the house with your little one, the less exposure to outside cold air and/or possible flu/cold germs immediately after surgery the better, pneumonia is easy to get after the body has undergone surgery

Don't: Worry about bringing pj's from home for the hospital, frequent changes might be needed due to all the drainage and drooling, don't worry about the extra laundry for yourself to do

Don't: Expect your child to let you put them down or them to want to sleep outside your arms, get comfortable in the rocking chair and rock that baby for hours; trust me, you don't want to let go of them any more than they want you to let go anyway!!