Surgery Wednesday 4/10/11

Gracie will have another surgery next week. We will be in Hershey overnight on Wednesday. It is a palate surgery called a pharyngoplasty (I think I am spelling it right). The hope is that it improves the quality of her speech. Speech therapy is really helping her to break bad habits and with placement but her sounds are still not precise. Please pray for our surgeon, Dr. Mackay. He is wonderful but it is such delicate work. If he doesn't do enough it will not make a difference and if he does too much she will end up sounding very nasal and he may have to undo what was done. Recovery should not be too tough. Gracie did really well with her last surgery. This surgery is much less of an ordeal. She will be on a soft food diet for 6 weeks which is the toughest part for us all! She is very excited about going to the hospital and all of the attention, presents and ice pops she will be getting! Thank you for your prayers!

Surgery covered!

Our insurance just denied Gracie's rhinoplasty that was done in May=( I called the clinic and they said not to worry... "insurance companies do not say no to Dr. Mackay". Before the day ended the decision was reversed and it is covered. Yipppeeee!!!

Preschool!

For the first time in my life I was the nightmare parent... talking endlessly to the teacher at the meet the teacher day and calling her at home at night. I just didn't know how Gracie was going to handle preschool and how preschool was going to handle Gracie! She has been home a year but she hasn't had anything new to deal with lately. Church nursery and speech are old news. We still have some anxiety at each but have learned to cope. I really didn't know if going to preschool would be traumatic or exciting for Gracie. Our pediatrician, Pia, really recommended that 1. Gracie go to preschool and that 2. I should NOT be the room Mom. So, I just decided to go with that. Gracie was nervous at the meet the teacher morning and kept repeating her usual... I don't want Mommy to go... mantra. Several times we practiced going in and doing our goodbye routine. She seemed excited about it all but I know from experience that at the moment we actually have to separate she panics. Mrs. Good said she would be there to peel Gracie off me and that I should head for the door quickly. My heart wrenched thinking about it. I have done it MANY times for nursery and for babysitters but her siblings are always with her. Even at church Cody is in her class and I stayed with them in class for at least the first 6 weeks. For preschool, I didn't know if she would be convinced that I would return. Does she trust me yet? Does she think that this is the next "big change"? I made sure her teacher knew to call me if she shut down or was hysterical for more than a short time. Mrs. Good was so gracious and even called me the night before the first day suggesting I bring Gracie a few minutes late so she could focus on just her and asking what she likes and if she likes hugs or high fives. But DON'T YOU KNOW, after all of my obsessing she did GREAT! Although she was a little nervous she did not cry or scream. She was SO PROUD of herself... her book bag... her outfit... her homework. When I returned she was all smiles. Her teacher said... Gracie did great, Praise the Lord! She played nicely and shared with her friends! She was so happy to see me. Sometimes when I go somewhere without her she snubs me when I get home because she is angry with me for being away from her. She was so cuddly and happy the rest of the day. I must say it felt like such a wonderful culmination of such an intense first year home. The second day of preschool was the same. The director, Mrs. Keeney, stands outside the door and said how glad she was that Gracie had such a great first day and that many prayers had gone up on her behalf. What wonderful people and what a Great God. I am sure I will again obsess over the next milestone for Gracie but I am just relishing this one at the moment!

12 Month Post Placement - that means we are done=)

Just had our final visit from our case worker today. They have to visit and do a report at 6 months and 12 months. They basically just ask a lot of questions. It was fun to be able to sit around and talk about Gracie. She has come such a long way. Jinny, our case worker, could not believe the positive differences she observed in Gracie since her 6 month visit. I loved hearing that. I remember at the 6 month visit Gracie did not want to come out of her room because there were strangers in the living room and when I made her she buried her head in my shoulder and would not look at them. 6 months later she ran out the front door to meet Jinny and sat next to her the whole time. She talked about her friend Miss Jinny the rest of the day. It makes me remember those first few weeks home. The tears before nap time and bed time, holding Grace in the back yard because she was too afraid to be out of my arms outdoors, Grace slamming her hand on the table if my Mom dared look in her direction, flopping herself on the ground when new people came over. It is kind of like pregnancy and labor... unless you stop and really think about it you forget how hard it was... you are just in love and it is all so worth it. So... you do it again. O.k. maybe not this time. We are at maximum capacity for the moment=)

Post-op and Team Meeting

Gracie had her post-op appointment with Dr. Mackay today and they also had the rest of the team see her. Nothing like 3 hours in a doctors office with a 3 year old! She has a little infection on her lip. She is on antibiotics so it should clear up soon. Dr. Mackay is so great. He is so good with Grace. He likes her strong will and says she is brilliant. What Mom wouldn't love him? Grace can eat real food again but nothing as hard as a pretzel. With all of the hamburger and hot dogs she missed over the holiday weekend, she is ready to catch up. We will start massaging her lip several times a day help break down scar tissue. I asked how long we do this and they said a year!!! Yikes. Guess she will be learning how to do it herself too. Dr. Mackay will give her 3 months to allow the swelling to go down and to see what progress she makes in speech with her new mouth. If she is not where she should be he will do another palate procedure, pharyngealplasty, to work with the tissue in the back of her throat. This surgery has no major side effects and will not be nearly as big of a deal as what she has just endured. There will be many more surgeries but maybe only 2 more before she is 8. This is a guess. We are not anxious about all of the surgeries ahead but instead thankful for the wonderful care she is receiving and God's grace to deal with anything that comes our way. We will post a picture of the lip revision when the infection clears up. They did a great job on her lip and nose but it is still healing. There will be more cosmetic revisions in the future and they will get things as close to "normal" as possible but they are upfront in telling us that it will always be noticeable. We are confident that we can help her put her cleft lip and palate in perspective throughout her life. We just sang the song in Church that says... "He makes all things work together for my good." If we are going to sing it... we might as well start living and believing it!

8 months home

Hi all. I just wanted to take a break from the all of the medical posts! Gracie has been home for about 8 months. She is doing so well. We just love her to pieces. We have to remind ourselves of her background at times because she has just become part of the family. I caught myself telling the pediatrician how this or that doesn't run in my family. Oh.. that is right... what difference would that make... she is adopted! I think about how God knew all along that she would be in our family. How He saw the day she was born and each day afterward. I pray that in heaven I am able to "rewind the tape" and see each day of her life we missed. I pray that she knows that she was fearfully and wonderfully made and that God has a good plan for her life. She is such a joy. A strong-willed and determined joy! I love that about her. Most days=) She is so helpful. She RUNS to get things or to clean up and she works so diligently. She is so obedient. I think about all the million things that had to fall into place to bring her home and it is truly a miracle. I often think about the fact that we had a choice whether or not to adopt her and it sends chills down my spine. To think we could have missed this! Thank God we didn't.

Still doing well

We are two days post-op and home doing well. Just now starting to see some reduced swelling. She continues to handle the pain like a champ. She has become more aware of the pain in her face but is equally upset about the little mark from the IV and the little scab she got on her foot last week from her shoe rubbing her foot! She hasn't seen herself yet in the mirror. She tells us constantly her boo boo feels better. When we find something she likes to eat or we make her comfortable in some way she says, "I am happy now". She pretty much needs constant care so she is keeping us hopping. She just needs someone to be with her to make sure she is not doing anything unsafe or the other kids are not swinging things or throwing things near her. There has never been a lack of activity in our house... climbing, jumping off the bunk beds, sliding down the stairs on a sleeping bag... so life has ceased as we know it. So far so good. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!