Day 2

Today Ben has been doing SO much better than yesterday! I think I've said "I'm so proud of you!" and "I'm so happy the surgery is behind us!" about a million times. We were able to come home this afternoon and before we left Ben took a shower and was walking around a little bit. He's been eating more puddings, jellos, soups, smoothies, chocolate milk, etc. Yesterday he tried drinking through a straw but between the numbness and being swollen he just couldn't quite get the hang of it. We both had our fingers trying to cover up the holes between his lips hoping to help. However, tonight he drank almost a whole glass full of chicken soup through a straw! I love seeing him progress so rapidly. Tonight he said he feels the best he has felt so far. It's so nice being home and I'm sure the healing process will go faster now. Tonight we plan on getting some good sleep, only waking to keep up on his medicines. Here are a few pictures of our day:

 These are the first "foods" Ben was able to eat: Apple juice, grape juice, chicken broth. All are given to him through that syringe.

 Early morning day #2

 This is Ben's "upgraded" and current diet plan. Here you can see that he has 3 different spoons and a couple different beverages. At the hospital he especially liked the chicken soup, Italian ice, ice cream, pudding, and apple juice.

 Going home!

 Isn't he so hansome?!?!! He is looking better by the hour!

Here is a side view where you can barely see the tiny stich he has. He has one on each side where they inserted screws perpendicular to his bone. These stiches will come out in a week.

He's doing well and we couldn't be more proud of the progress he is making. 

Can We Skip to Day 14 Yet?

Ok, I'm ready to be 2 weeks ahead from now! Last night was pretty rough for Ben. Between the pain and the blood pressure cuff going off every 15 minutes he barely slept. The doctor came in this morning and removed his head dressing, which Ben said was instant relief and helped him to breath so much better. He has now started drinking a little apple juice through a syringe. He is still pretty swollen, but they have given him a steroid that has really helped a lot and he looks a little less puffy. I sit here in amazement at what the doctors have been able to do! Ben keeps trying to bite his back teeth together because it is such a new feeling for him to be able to do that. He still can't really tell that much of a difference just yet because of the splint in his mouth and because he is still pretty numb, but I think he can definitely tell something is different. He's still on a tiny bit of oxygen but we are hoping to ween him of that soon.

 Here is my handsome man today! It's hard to tell in the picture that the head dressing is off since he has ice packs and a wash cloth on head. Regardless, he looks amazing and his progress thus far is incredible. Plan for today is to try and get him eating a little bit and get him up walking. We are still just waiting to see if we will go home today or stay another night. For now, I'm hoping Ben will be able to get some rest as he is completely exhausted.

Done!

Ben is now done with surgery! It took a total of about 5 hours, plus 1 hour in the recovery room, and now I am sitting in his room with him. According to Dr. Baker everything went perfectly. This whole event has been a series of miracles and blessings.

We met up with Ben in his room on the pediatrics floor. Bless his little heart he is amazing. Would you believe that even with his head bandaged and feeling groggy he asks if I have had anything to eat and if I have been able to watch Biggest Loser? I seriously married a superhero. I knew it before, but now I know even more that I married the most caring, unselfish man! He truly looks amazing. I am still amazed at all the different procedures they were able to do on him. He is now resting as much as he can and loving the morphine he was recently given.

We are all SO relieved to have his HUGE hurdle behind us and look forward to the days, weeks, and months ahead of us. It can only get better from here!

And It's Started!

Well, Ben has been in surgery for about 25 minutes now. I'm sure he's not remembering a thing (or at least he'd better not be!) but I can't really say the same for Mom and Dad Western and me! I can't believe it's only been 25 minutes and we still have probably another 5 1/2 hours to go. Dr. Baker came and talked to us before and we were once again impressed by him. What a good Doctor to be taking care of my Ben! I am so grateful for the blessings of medicine in our day. How amazing for Ben to be able to have his done and for him to be able to bite down properly! I just can't believe that after surgery he will be able to actually bite down and have all his teeth touch as they should. I'm very anxious to have these next few hours over with! I can't imagine (and try not to) what is going on in my poor sweetheart's mouth right now. Let's just say that I'm happy sitting here watching Spongebob in the waiting room than watching the surgery! The sweet nurse said that she will update me when she can, so I very anxiously look forward to that! For now, here are some pictures of my handsome man as they prepped him for surgery. Even with that crooked jaw he's the most handsome man I've ever seen!!!

Love the dance, Ben!

This one was a little hard for me to watch!

Love the look on Ben's face- "Do you really know what you're doing?"

T-1 Days

Tomorrow is the big day! Ben now has the surgical "hooks" on his braces and is officially ready for the surgery. This last week I have asked him to request whatever foods he wants as he will be on liquid/soft foods diet for the next few weeks/months. We are very anxious to get tomorrow over with and are very much looking forward to being on the other side of this surgery. This blog will serve as a type of journal for us to document everything that will be happening and the progress he will make. Take one last look at this handsome man and his "banana" jaw as he calls it!