This is my girl.... goofy as they get! I think her motto must be "If I made you laugh my job is done!" She truly gets joy from cracking herself and others up. This was the activity that brought down her wall in China and continues to warm our hearts to this day!
On another note, particularly of interest to parents of children with cleft palates is her "before" and "after" picture below. Cadence had a VERY significant cleft palate. As kids grow, if they aren't repaired, their cleft continues to grow. She got along pretty well despite it all. She never had any issues eating or drinking and obviously was growing well when we met her. Obviously her speech isn't where it should be, but there's a few factors behind that. Her cleft palate extended through her gumline and you could see up to the top of one of her nares. Quite interesting to look at with one of her many belly laughs!
BEFORE
You can get a general idea of how things looked pre-op....
AFTER
And here's a good look now. She's had one surgery in November for her cleft palate and one in January for her cleft lip. She does have a small fistula (hole) just behind the gumline that the doctor constructed. It's about the size of an eraser and we haven't met with him yet to see if we will do anything about it before her hard palate repair when she's older. It doesn't seem to cause her any problems so far.
Just wanted to share this with someone who might be standing in our shoes 6 months ago. It's always nice to see what the outcome will be!
My son was completely unrepaired when he came home also - age 5!! He is doing great and after our next phase (lip/nose revision) he will be finished for a while! Isn't it amazing.. I love his face no matter what stage it has been in... and we approach things matter of fact.. and he has had mostly good experiences over these last 3 years!!
ReplyDeleteLily has a fistula as well...hers is in the middle of her palate. It will also have to be repaired, however, we're gonna wait til she's 36 months old. Her dr. said he wants her to have a formal speech eval then to see where the sounds are coming from..then he'll know if she'll have to have a pharygeal flap surgery...if so, he'll flap the fistula at the same time. Lots of unknowns, but she's a sweet, happy little thing...and we're in LOVE!!!
ReplyDeleteThe repair is great! And the fact that you got a good picture... that's pretty great on your end! All I got was blurry moving around pictures of Levi's mouth!
ReplyDeleteStacy thanks for sharing. As you already know Keaton came home repaired and we are waiting to bring Kanah home un-repaired in a few months. We are going to have to prepare for going through his surgeries. Love the personality you capture in Cadence's pics. She is so cute!
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