Justin's Turn for Surgery

Justin had surgery last Monday for a deviated septum and turbinate reduction.  I'll spare him, and you, the embarrassment of posting the pictures of him at the hospital before and after surgery.  The procedure was about an hour and a half, but he was in the recovery room for 3 hours.  This is the first surgery that Justin has ever had and we quickly learned that he does NOT tolerate anesthesia well at all.  They started telling him that it might be best for him to stay the night, but he just wanted to get home, so they eventually let him go.  Even before the surgery, while getting his IV, he commented to me that he has a new appreciation for everything Annie has had to go through.  (He really doesn't like needles or IVs!)

This past week has been very difficult for him since he has large splints sutured inside his nose.  This is creating a lot of pressure that is not able to be relieved.  And just like with the anesthesia, his stomach doesn't agree with the pain pills either.  Fortunately, now nearly a week later, he is starting to get a little more sleep at night.  This recovery has been much more difficult for him than we ever anticipated, which is making him reconsider the jaw surgery that has been recommended for him.

On Tuesday he'll get the splints removed and that should relieve all his pressure and hopefully allow him to breathe out of his nose, which was the goal of the procedure in the first place.  He hasn't been allowed to lift heavy objects--his ENT had no idea we have a 70 lb child dependent on us for transfers when he placed that restriction on Justin.  I've managed fine on my own all week--I'm used to doing half the lifting anyway, and Justin is gone several times a year for work and I manage fine, so that's nothing new.  But today my back has started hurting me.  Getting Annie in the shower and bathed is quite a project.  I can do it on my own just fine, but I think today it might have just been too much on my already stressed back.  So hopefully on Tuesday the doctor will say it's safe for Justin to start helping with the lifting!

All of this has me reconsidering our plans of installing a ceiling lift in Annie's bedroom and bathroom suite.  I've always felt confident lifting her, but today got me thinking that if I were to really hurt myself and become unable to lift Annie, we'd be in some serious trouble.  Also, since we lost our home health nurse and have been having troubles replacing her, I'm beginning to think that we might have access to more nurses if we can provide them with a ceiling lift instead of expecting them to be able to walk in and start lifting Annie.  Justin and I are used to it because we've been lifting her all her life and as she has gradually gotten bigger, we've gradually adapted too.  But this prolonged period of lifting has me thinking that we need to consider a ceiling lift sooner rather than later.

The only problem is that our medical supplier has seen Annie's room and has told us that they can't install a ceiling lift on her vaulted ceiling, especially with her ceiling fan where it is.  We can easily take out the ceiling fan, although we use it quite a bit and would hate to have to get rid of it, but we're not sure how to get around the vaulted ceiling issue.  We have other Aicardi friends that say it's possible, so we might just have to do some research.  But needless to say, I'll be grateful when Justin gets feeling better, can breathe better, and can start helping again with Annie's care!