Surgery May 12

Gracie will have her big surgery on May 12. We went to Hershey last Friday for a pre-op appointment. The surgeon continues to put me at ease. He has done this so many times. There are other posts that go into detail but basically they will close a hole that is in her nose, attach muscles in her upper lip so she can move it, clean up scarring, and most importantly lengthen her palate. Her uvula (hangy thing) in her throat and surrounding tissues are so far from the back of her throat that she cannot speak clearly. Lengthening the palate will help tremendously. Later they will probably do another surgery to work on some of the surrounding tissues in the back of her throat. She has a great deal of air escape from the hole in her palate and nose so closing the nose and some of the hole in the palate will really help with that. Kids respond very differently to this kind of surgery. Most do very well. I am sure she will do much better than her Mother;) She must go 6 weeks with only soft food so that will be tough and at first she will need around the clock care. I hear many parents say that it is a time of bonding because you are with them 24-7 and providing for their every need. I look forward to that but I am concerned about getting my Cole, Julia, Cody time in too. I am sure they will enjoy some extra time with grandparents and friends and certainly extra time in front of the tv! We will be after you all to be praying as it gets closer.