Successful op

Archie’s mandibular distraction went very well. We went with him to the OR at about 1.30pm and met some of the operative team which included anaesthesiologist, ENT doc, plastic surgeon and nurses. Although we left him there about 1.45pm, surgery didn’t start until 3.30pm owing to a scheduling backup and the fact that they didn’t give him a central line but administered all the drugs through IV.

In the meantime, we took a walk around Westwood Village and came back to wait in one of the NICU waiting rooms. At about 5.45pm he was wheeled back to the NICU and we met with Dr James Bradley again, who told us that everything went well, that the pre-op bronchoscopy/laryngoscopy showed that everything was fine from the ENT point of view and that the distraction device was in place.

The anaesthesiologist also told us that everything went fine and Archie was a particularly easy case for her as he was on no other meds. She didn’t even give him a paralytic, just the anaesthetic and pain meds. So now he is on Fentanyl to control the post-op pain. He’s still on an IV tonight and into tomorrow, although the attending paediatrician told us he’ll be feeding again tomorrow (through his NG tube).

I’ll spare you the post-op pics, although it is a pretty neat job with minimal swelling. He has suture lines under each side of his jaw and screws that come out behind his ears. Over the next 10 days or so, those screws will be turned every morning and evening for a total travel of 2mm per day. Osteogenesis is very fast in newborns! After the 10 days, he’ll have the external hardware removed and the internal supports will stay in for another couple of months until the bone mineralises, at which point they can be removed in a simple outpatient procedure.