Palate Surgery Recovery - Finally Better Days

The day after I wrote about Matteo's rough recovery from his palate surgery, things finally started looking up for him.  It started with actually getting a decent amount of food into him that night and for the first time, he might have actually felt satisfied.  Not being hungry does amazing things for your mood!

Although the rip in his palate continued to look worse into Wednesday, by that evening, it looked like it was started to retract, just like the doctor said it would probably do.  I brought him in for another post-op visit this morning and low and behold, it looks like his palate has actually fused back to his gum line in a few places.  (I know those are not very technical terms, but that's the best way I can describe it.)  The doctor thought things looked worlds better compared with what he saw on Monday.

Unfortunately, he did see another hole had formed towards the back of Matteo's palate and he was unable to see if there was also a hole in his nasal palate.  He couldn't tell if what he was seeing was a fistula, which would require surgery to repair.  Matteo wouldn't have another surgery until at least six months after the palate repair and I've heard it's "easier".  A lot can happen in the next couple of months, but I'm preparing myself for the reality that Matteo may need another surgery. His next post-op visit isn't for another three months, so we won't know what our next steps are until then. 

The doctor wants Matteo on a liquid diet through Monday, but from Tuesday on, he can have soft foods.  After two weeks of drinking his food, the soft food diet is going to be amazing!  He'll be able to have bread (with crusts cut off), pasta and eggs that haven't been pureed.  He can have anything that doesn't require a lot of chewing and just needs to stay away from anything that will be hard or rough on his mouth.  The soft food diet lasts a week and hopefully he's cleared for real food.