Cleft Team Appointment

We went to the Lancaster Clinic today for Grace's big appointment. We saw a speech therapist, orthodontist, dentist, craniofacial surgeon/plastic surgeon all in one afternoon. The Lancaster Clinic was one of the pioneers of the "team approach" to treating cl/cp. You see all of the specialists in one day and then all of the specialist meet together in the evening to discuss a course of action for your child. We were SO impressed with everyone there.

The speech therapist had so many positive things to say about Grace. We talked to the therapist most of the time but she did work with Grace for just a few minutes. Grace showed improvement in that short time! We will set up speech therapy once a week in the next month or so.

The surgeon confirmed what we had expected... her lip and palate are in need of much repair. He was straight forward about it but very optimistic and certainly not shocked about any aspect of her condition. He has been doing these repairs for 25 years in the US and on medical mission teams oversees. There is nothing he has not seen and he has done hundreds upon hundreds of these surgeries. The procedures that she will need will be spread out over time. Step by step. The first step will be a Z-plasty which is a procedure to lengthen the palate as well as a complete lip revision. The muscles on her lip were not connected properly so they will take care of that and do some other cosmetic changes. Her nose will not need too much repair but will improve in appearance when her lip is corrected. We will schedule the Z-plasty and lip revision sometime in the Spring most likely. The z-plasty will greatly improve her speech so we want to do it soon but not too soon because we want to love on her a little more before we put her through a major, but not dangerous=), surgery. We have come so far in bonding with Grace we don't want to take a step back quite yet. 6 months home is about the recommended time before surgery if possible.

Grace did such a great job with it all. We were such the proud parents! She was high fiving everyone and showing off. She took to the surgeon right away which was so cute. You could tell that he just loves kids. She could tell too. It is funny, we talk about all of these corrections that will be made and we do really want the very best for her but we just love her little face. It is hard to think that she will look different than she does now. Her Daddy has been smitten with her since the first day her little picture came across our computer, split pants and all! lol! As she goes through times in her life and develops her own self-concept, I hope she fully realizes how strikingly beautiful her Daddy thought she was even before all of these cosmetic changes.

We are just overjoyed with the level of care available to sweet Grace right down the street from our house. It was one of the million pieces of the puzzle that allowed this miracle to happen in our lives.

We will have Grace evaluated at the IU next week so more to come.