Thursday, Nov. 12

Hello to all! Sorry for the delayed post. Clay had surgery Monday of this week at Children's Medical Center in Dallas. He arrived at 11:00 a.m. and went into the operating room at 12:30. He was in the O.R. for about 2 hours and in the recovery room for another hour or so. The procedure was done to release the burn scars on his neck and chin. As we have said in the past all burn scars contract and for the past months Clay has been unable to raise his head. He really had no chin or neck to speak of. His skin had pulled his lips and chin down to the point where there was only a centimeter and a half from his chin to his trach. After the surgery there were 13 centimeters separating the trach and the chin. When they let us come into the recovery he was still asleep from the sedative. Deidra and I were shocked and thrilled to see him sleeping on the recovery bed with his head stretched out and lying flat against the bed. We have become so accustomed to him walking around with his little head down that we had forgotten what his regular head and neck position was supposed to look like. Clay had a little bit of more good luck in the operating room. Clay has had a loose tooth for quite sometime and he would not let anyone help him pull it. During surgery he lost this tooth and one of the doctors told us that the tooth fairy came to the O.R. and left him six dollars and put his tooth in a jar for him. The doctor was very pleased with the procedure and told us that the Integra product was the way to go because he was not limited by lack of skin(you can google this product sometime-it's pretty interesting). Clay is wearing a Wound Vac pump over the bandage and a C collar neck brace. The wound vac attaches through a hole in the neck brace right above where his trach comes out. The Wound Vac provides constant suction to the wound and Clay will carry this machine everywhere he goes for a month. These are quite a few contraptions for a 6 year old. On Tuesday the resident doctor told us that we could plan on going home. We anticipated discharge around noon. To make a long story short we had to wait on a portable Wound Vac pump and were not able to leave the hospital until 11:15 p.m. on Tuesday night. This made for a late night or early morning back to Olney. We are thankful to be able to spend a few days at home. Deidra and Clay are back to Dallas tomorrow (Friday) for wound care. Clay will have to be sedated and it will be like a minor day surgery to do his dressing changes. He is very uncomfortable and hopes the time goes by quickly until the next surgery when they will graft his skin over the Interga on his neck. He will have to wait for four weeks until the next procedure. We are thankful that he is progressing and we truly appreciate all of the help and prayers of family & friends.