The Little Man from Henan is a He-man

Troy: Ty's surgery was a huge success today in Chicago! Praise God!!! Thank you, Thank you , Thank you to everyone who is praying for our family and especially our Little Man from Henan. We have felt your prayers today! We started the day with the nurses waking Ty and Amy up around 6:30AM to get him ready for surgery. I spent the night in the Ronald McDonald House in Chicago and made it right at 7:00AM when they were starting to walk us all up as a family to the surgery prep room. I held him as they gave him the grape-flavored sedative to make him more and more loopy and get him ready to be wheeled into the operating room. He kept playing with a toy and over the next ten minutes got more and more loopy with the meds. Amy and I had to laugh when he would pause for a second, because everything was going in slow motion for him at the time, throw a smile our way and chuckle as if saying "Boy, this is good stuff mom and dad. I'm feeling really, really, really good right now! Let's try this stuff as home sometime. This type of grape juice rocks!" The nurse joked with us that every parent needs a little bottle of that grape-flavored stuff in their house. It works miracles! Ha! After another ten minutes had past, the nurses told us it was time to give him his last hugs and kisses before surgery. Needless to say, the tears flowed for both Amy and I as we hugged and kissed him bye-bye. I know it is one of the hardest things we have ever had to do in our lives together. But soon, there he went down the hall on the rolling bed with three nurses around him and we knew he would be better for it. Right after, Amy and I went to find the waiting room, sat down in the chairs, cried some more together and entrusted Ty into God's hands through prayer. Then the waiting began. Overall, we waited for three hours until after 10:30AM and we're summoned to his ICU Room where he was starting to wake up from surgery. It took a while for the anesthesia to wear off, but he finally started to get back the Ty twinkle in his eyes. As you look at him, the left side of his face is swollen and he has his tongue stitched down by a stitch that comes out first thing tommorrow morning. The string attached to the tongue is taped to the side of his face. We learned that this is a precaution so he doesn't swallow his tongue. He has a lot of bloody drool coming out of his mouth that goes down his chin that we have to periodically wipe away. He also has blood coming out of both nostrils in his nose at times. All normal occurences for cleft surgery. His arms are in braces. One of the hardest moments of the day was when he tried at the same time to but both fingers in his mouth to pacify himself and he couldn't. He was not a happy camper! So, we gave him his Sock Monkey and that has done the trick for now. We have been taking turns sitting with him throughout the day in a rocking chair and rocking him to sleep. The two keys today have been medication and hydration. They are keeping him comfortable with pain meds while trying to keep his mouth moist with apple juice and water. So, I just left at 9:00PM from the hospital and Ty was sleeping in his crib and Amy was getting ready to sleep in the comfy chair in his room. Most to all, I want everyone to know how proud I am of my son today. What a trooper! An absolute He-man. But, I am so proud of my wife as well! What an amazing wife! What an amazing mother taking care of her son today! I'm blessed to be her husband. To God be all the glory for this day! Until tommorrow, all our love!