Hi folks, I'm the parent of the 13 yr old who had
a bone graft a few yrs back. As thats a topic just
now then I'm happy to talk. I personally wasn't at
the hospital when my son was being operated on, I was
at home with my other 2 children, thus I can only
give a general impression. <br><br>The op itself takes
about 2 to 3 hours. He was then stuck in a bed for 3
days with a drip in his arm, but was allowed out of
bed to 'hobble' about (his words, not mine) for short
periods of time afterwards. The day after that he was
allowed to come home.<br><br>For the parents :
Unfortunately a succesful op usually means a certain amount of
swelling, on the face that is. Be prepared for the first
few days after the op, it can look a little worrying,
but a week later then no problems ! The bit that got
me was the fact that he couldnt walk, just sort of
shuffle and hobble along. Don't under estimate this part
of the bone graft operation, its as big if not more
as 'big a deal' as the mouth part.<br><br>Needless
to say my son spent two weeks off school lazing
about on the sofa with the tv remote control and
playstation control pad and as much "very soft" food as he
could eat. Don't believe what the doctors say, chips,
crisps and all that kind of hard stuff is out of the
diet for about 2 months if not longer. They tell you
beforehand it will only be for a month at the tops, but they
tell the truth afterwards !<br><br>To summarise I'd
say that for a parent this is actually the biggest op
the kids have to put up with. Ok, while babies
they've had bigger and more dramatic ones, but by the
time they are old enough to have the bone graft op
then they are very aware of whats going on, and
feeling it, and that for me made it so much more painful
both for him and myself.<br><br>For the younger ones
(younger than us 'crumblies' LOL) : Don't let anything
I've said put you off. Within a few hours of waking up
after the anaesthetic both my son and the other 2 kids
in the same ward, same op, were eating soup and then
jelly whilst watching the footie on tv. Typical boys ?
But be prepared to have to use bedpans / bottles or
whatever for the first day or two - awkward and
embaressing I'm sure ! The funny bit is my son didnt pee for
nearly three days after the op, I wonder why ??????
LOL<br><br>All the best everyone,<br><br>Mark R