Noah did well all things considered. Last minute my husband decided to accompany me today, and boy am I eternally grateful he did. I hadn't expected to be able to hear my son's blood curdling screams in the waiting room, and it was unbelievably painful to sit there and listen to him so I stepped outside. Luckily the procedure was much quicker than I had expected and we didn't have to endure that torture for very long. He came out bloody and shaken, but stopped crying quickly and calmed down as soon as he got in our arms. Dr. Martinez came out and sat down and chatted with us until all our questions were answered. She. is. amazing!
The rest of our day was of course challenging, but I really think Noah handled it all as well as he could. He is on Tylenol, but still walked around with his fingers in his mouth trying to feel around and told me about every 15 minutes 'momma hurt.' He didn't want to eat or drink anything, but I managed to get a little bit of Boost in him. The kid has always had a healthy appetite so I'm sure by tomorrow he'll decide he wants to eat something.
The procedure itself was a little more invasive than what I had originally thought, but that wasn't too surprising since I already knew his language and feeding/swallowing issues were significant. See below for pictures that were as close to his situation as I could find on the internet.
This is what Noah's upper lip tie looked like when his teeth came him. He actually fell and tore it partially a while back, but this is what he was working with until that happened. This was one of the large reasons why he couldn't nurse.
This is similar to what he looked like today. Since he had partially torn his like this kid too, his teeth were closer together. But they still had to go in and laser quite a bit.
Of course Noah isn't interested in eating... he has a wound under his lip, on the bottom side of his tongue, and on the floor of his mouth. Our next goal is to make sure these wounds don't heal back together, so we are supposed to stretch them on a daily basis. Otherwise we would have to have that awful procedure all over again. The lip I can handle, but the tongue he won't let me get near (or I will start losing fingers - an unfortunate challenge from doing this on an older kid!). So we're relying on our speech path to help us learn how to keep him using his tongue enough throughout the day so it doesn't close up.
We'll take it easy for the rest of the week, and keep him on a soft, bland diet until he is interested in other foods. In the grand scheme of things, I have full confidence he'll be just fine. As of tonight, it feels like we are finally on the downside of this hill, and once he is healed I'm excited to see "Noah 2.0" as a girlfriend of mine stated haha. I'll update in a couple weeks after we have had some time to see how he is healing. I'm optimistic I will have a lot of good things to share about his speech, and improved chewing/swallowing capabilities (and hopefully expanded food preferences!). Thanks again for all of the support, and encouragement. I hope we have helped someone by sharing our journey and truly appreciate everyone who has reached out to us. I had NO CLUE how many mommas out there were in the same boat!
Final Note: I will never even begin to comprehend what is like to be a mother of a chronically ill child, a child with disabilities, or a mother who has lost a child. This journey of ours has opened my eyes a tiny bit to the relentless struggles those mothers face. It has given me a perspective that reminds me that this journey of ours, in the grand scheme of things, really is not that big of a deal. To be honest, it has been more challenging for me then for Noah (until today) because he has never known any different. We have had our moments but in the long run, Noah has always risen above, and I have confidence will be just fine. To those mommies out there who spend days, weeks, months, or YEARS even fighting for their little ones health my heart aches for you... and you are my hero. You have strength like I will never know. I pray the Lord carries you when you feel like you don't have the strength to keep going, and that He gives you supernatural comfort and peace only the Lord can bring.
Love & Blessings,
The Veggie Momma
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