Monday 3rd March 2008

After a long 4 hour wait we are taken down to the recovery room where we find a very sleepy Ellis asking when the operation is. We learned this time that the benefit of the sleepy juice is that it causes very slight short term amnesia so children don't recall being put to sleep. The great relief is no drain fitted this time which will hopefully equate to a shorter stay in hospital.

The surgery has gone really well and Ellis' eye and lip look fantastic despite the swelling caused by the trauma to the surrounding areas which is typical of any surgery. Ellis is being his usual happy self although very sleepy and not too keen on eating. After some rest, jam sandwiches, and some more pain relief he is even happier and spends a quiet afternoon watching "Here Comes A ... Digger, Fire Engine, Tractor and Train".

I return to the apartment to get Tyler fed and put to bed, Debbie is staying with Ellis for his first night in hospital. They are visited by Dr Waner and Dr Fay who are very pleased with the results, Dr Waner described it as a "home run" as the eye is spot on with their objectives.

Tuesday 4th March 2008

Ellis continues to recover although his face looks a bit more swollen today from the laser treatment, this is usual and happened last time too so nothing to worry about. The best part is that he can close his eye except for a slight gap and Dr Fay is confident this is only due to swelling. Imagine an american accent saying "he is so going to be able to close that eye".

At the moment Ellis' lip is the only concern as it keeps weeping although on the positive side it is only a day since his surgery. Hopefully this will settle down over the next 24 hours and worst case Dr Waner can rectify any issues when Ellis has surgery on his nose and ears.

It doesn't seem likely Ellis will be discharged early, he may even be kept in longer than last time which means it will be the same day as our flight home. I believe that Dr Kandilakis is always very keen to protect the hospitals reputation and doesn't want to send a patient back to their home country until he is sure they don't need further treatment. While we respect that, we also know Ellis will thrive and recover much quicker when in familiar surroundings. Hopefully this will be his last night in hospital.

We will keep this post updated on Ellis' recovery over the next few days and will add another picture when he is discharged.