Monday, March 1st

Hello to everyone. Clay had a surgery on Friday, February 26th. They worked on his nose, mouth, and chin. We were scheduled for the O.R. at 11:15 but the surgery did not start until 1:15. We had several areas of concern that we showed the surgeon before they went in and he decided to spend the extra time while he had Clay under anesthesia and address one of them. Initially they were just going to work on the webbing around the bridge of his nose and release the scars around his mouth . The goal is to have him open his mouth wide enough for intubation on future surgeries. With this in mind they were able to add about 1 cm to the opening on each side of his mouth. The area we were concerned about was below his bottom lip. The surgeon was able to take a full thickness layer of skin from below his waistline and graft it in under lower lip. He sewed a bolster in over this graft to protect and support as the new skin has a chance to adhere. To give you an idea of what Clay looks like it appears he went several rounds with a professional boxer. He has stitches all around his nose and mouth and Saturday he was swollen to the point where he said it hurt to swallow. Some of the swelling has started to go away and he is now able to enjoy a , "soft diet." I stayed home with him yesterday (Sunday morning) and his appetite has returned with a vengeance. He is one tough little boy. He looks pretty rough but he is scheduled back to Dallas Friday to have the stitches removed. I know this is short but I wanted to let everyone know how he is doing. Thank you to all who have expressed their care and concern.