Doctors, doctors and more doctors

Last week on Monday, Aug. 31st Allie, KayLi and I loaded up and headed to Dallas for five medical appointments. KayLi did so great on the five hour drive. At least until...

The SWI staff mentioned that she got car sick on the drive to meet us but we haven't had any issues...until Dallas. As we pulled off the freeway, we were literally looking at the hotel when she threw up all over herself and the car seat. Just lovely!

It was almost 11:00 p.m. before we got her cleaned up, settled down and asleep. Then we had to clean the car seat and attempt to get some rest before the alarm went off at 6:30 a.m.

Her first appointment was with the dentist. We knew she had a couple cavities but they looked small. Unfortunately he thinks it would be best to cap them. So, she'll have four put on while she has her palate surgery.

Next on the list was the surgeon. We love him!!! We scheduled her palate surgery for the 23rd of September. Depending on how well she is able to swallow, she will be in the hospital for one or two days. He plans to revise her lip and do some reconstruction on her nose about six months later. She will need revisions as she grows but at least she will have a healthy self image. I'm so glad that Dr. Genecov and his team at the International Craniofacial Institute understand how important that is.

After that we had a visit with the speech pathologist. She was very thorough and thought that KayLi was doing very well with her language skills. I was surprised to hear that not all children require speech therapy after having their palates repaired so late. She said it was possible that we would just work on some things at home. I'm trying not to get my hopes up though. We'll do whatever we have to do.

After lunch we had an appointment with the ENT. This was, well awful! He was a very kind doctor and I'm certain he is an excellent ENT. He just wanted to make sure that KayLi had no problems with acid reflux. In order to do that he had to put a scope down her throat by going through her nose. Yeah...I left the room. She does have minor acid reflux issues and is now on medicine to get that under control. The last thing we want is all that yuck "bathing" her surgery site.

Her poor ears have been through a lot. Her left ear has a hole in it from a previous infection that ruptured. Her right ear is still infected. It likely has been since long before we held her. It's the one that was so bad in China. I'm thankful that we were able to at least calm it down before the flights home. It's actually scar tissue on her eardrum that is infected. We have been using some pretty strong ear drops for a week now and I think it's healing. She will have tubes put in both ears during her palate surgery.

We'll have her hearing checked after she recovers from surgery but we are not too concerned. She seems to be hearing well, so hopefully there is little or no long term damage.

Last on the list of appointments were medical photographs. That's where the oh so cute fishy waiting room was. I brought the camera with the idea to take pictures at each appointment but totally forgot about it. I did get a couple of her on the giant whale in the ground floor lobby. Notice the wardrobe change before the fishy waiting room pictures. That would be because she split orange juice all over her new cute dress at lunch. So we drove home with lots of fun laundry!

After the ENT I thought for sure we would never get her to hold still for anyone in scrubs again but she was great! She was great at all the appointments though. The dentist commented that she behaved like a five year old. It's very obvious that she was examined often because all of this is old hat to her. She just acts like it's no big thing at all to hold your mouth open for a stranger for five minutes!

That's about it. We got home late on the 1st where my mom was great and held down the fort for us. We let Emily stay up to see us before she went to bed. We were only gone one night but you would have thought we took her little sister away for a month. I'm praying hard for the week of the 23rd because we will be in Dallas ALL week.

Right now our schedule tentatively looks like this:
Sept. 21st - Head to Dallas
Sept. 22nd - Pre-op tests
Sept. 23rd - Surgery - Repair her palate, put tubes in both ears and cap four teeth.
Sept. 24th Possibly leave the hospital and stay at a hotel.
Sept. 25th Possibly leave the hospital and stay at a hotel.
Sept. 26th Drive home.

I'm so glad to have a game plan and know that KayLi is on the road to living a healthy, full life. I can't wait to have surgery behind us. I can't wait to know how she will sound. I can't wait to stop the flow of fluid to her ears and know they are well. I can't wait to see how she looks after her nose has been reconstructed. And way down the road I can't wait for her to have the language skills to share her thoughts with me.

I guess I'll have to wait though because none of it will happen quickly. Hhmmmm...maybe God has taught me a little bit about waiting for a reason!