Post-Op...Translation: Total Shutdown for Zane's Life as He Knows It

These next couple weeks are already shaping up to be quite a blur so I wanted to go ahead and give the details for Zane's post-op so we might get some bonus prayers in there!! :)

For those of you that know Zane, you'll realize that this is where the rubber meets the road. This will be the hardest part for Zane, for his family, for the school, for the church...you get the idea. 

I mentioned in the previous post that we will have to stay at least one night in the hospital, maybe two. I'm just going to throw out all these other little nuggets for you to marinate on as well.

10-14 days out of school...which I did negotiate...not even kidding...down to a 7 day minimum instead. Just have to wait for our follow-up visit on day 6.

2 week soft food/liquid diet. No chewing of any kind. However, his jaw won't be wired shut, and it won't cause him pain to chew. Zane eats constantly. This will also include all the incessant chewing on non-edible items. This will be tricky, to say the least.

No recess for 6-8 weeks. No. Recess. For. 6-8 WEEKS. This is a show-stopper. A jaw-dropper. A game-changer. If you think that's overly-dramatic, you don't know Zane. Under this umbrella, they added the following:

No jumping.

No running.

No bouncing.

No rolling around on the ground or "running" on all fours.

No Zane-like activities.

No amount of time will allow the complete impact of that to sink in enough so we shall move on. 

There won't be any stitches that he might accidentally rip open or any way (SUPPOSEDLY) that Zane can damage the crank on his jaw. The bigger issue would be all the incidental contact with other children, flying soccer balls, falling down, yada yada yada. Since Zane throws himself on the ground all the time, just for fun...yea...someone is going to have to sit on his little self for 2 months. The surgeon said the hardest part will be that Mini Evil Knievel shouldn't feel much pain at all...not with the cranking, not with chewing movement, not much overall. While that's comforting for a Momma, the pain is also what reminds people to take it easy. He anticipates much frustration for Z because he will feel fully recovered in a couple weeks, but he will still need MUCH more recovery time. 

Sidenote. I found out today that Zane may also need to have teeth extracted if they believe it to be necessary. Dr. Burton had mentioned this a year ago, but it hadn't come up since. Originally, the thinking was that Zane's mouth was so small, we were going to need to pull some baby teeth so the permanent teeth would be able to come in unhindered when they were ready. Apparently, it may also be necessary for this surgery.

So...yea...

In a recent meeting with our school, everyone left with a desire to do whatever we can do to get Zane back in school, in spite of the limitations. However, as you can imagine, this will mean we need a fairy godmother to hang with him throughout the day to provide gentle, yet constant, reminders of this temporary new normal. He'll need separate outdoor time, special help at lunch, helpful reminders not to hang upside down at this desk, and on and on. There's really no other option because he struggles to control himself in the routine. When that routine goes out the window...and there's also no release for him by way of running around at recess...poor little man will be fighting a losing battle. As will his teacher, who's actually responsible for other little humans at the same time! :) 

If we aren't able to navigate those hurdles, my guess is that we will have to transition to some sort of home school, home care, home mental care...that last one was just for Zane's family...ok, just his Momma. Chris has always said we could never home school because we couldn't afford the therapy for them or me. Isn't that special? 

Anyway, I mentioned before that Zane will have to go back for a simple surgery to remove the plate after about 4 months and will be fully recovered in 6-9 months. In my mind, if we can just survive those no-activity 2 months, we'll be golden. 

Whew. I think that's probably more than enough for today. I also think the need for prayer in the recovery phase is fairly obvious. At some point, we should probably tell ya to just pray for some other crew, for Pete's sake...but for now, you feel free to just pop-a-squat right here. 

Part 4 of Z-Day will cover the WHY of his surgery. I'm pretty sure most people don't fully understand why this needs to be done right now...it may not be what you think! 

Just building suspense here, my people. Keep 'em wanting more, and all that. See ya next time! :)