I was completely exhausted yesterday, so I never updated after the surgery.
The procedure started at 12:04, and the doctor came out to talk with us around 12:25. I was shocked! He said CJ did great. There was no bone growth around the bar, and they were able to just straighten it a little and pull it out as planned.
We were able to go back to recovery once he woke up a little bit. Sitting on the bed with him was his pectus bar! Thankfully, they had cleaned it up really well for us! It's narrower than we expected. Here it is:
The recovery nurse gave him some apple juice and vanilla wafers. He needed some food in his stomach before taking the oral pain medication. He needed to have good pain management on the oral medication before we could be released. We stayed in recovery until almost 2:30. At that time, we were discharged and able to head home!
CJ spent the rest of the day alternating between sleeping and eating. I think he was making up for all the eating he couldn't do between midnight and after the surgery! (He is a teenage boy, after all!) We were told to avoid heavy/fried foods for a while until his digestive system was able to get the anesthesia completely out of its system, because it could have caused nausea. Otherwise, there were no restrictions on his diet.
He had some pain and a little swelling at the left incision site, but they said to expect that. That was the side the stabilizer was on. I don't know if that's why that side was more swollen & sore, or if maybe that was the side the bar was pulled out. Overall, though, the pain meds were doing their job.
CJ slept through the night without needing additional pain meds. He woke up around 9:45AM asking for some, though. The incision sites look good. He still has some swelling & tenderness on the left side, but it's nothing to worry about.
