I know it's been a really long time since I've posted. Don't know that anyone still reads anyway. But that's okay..it's for me mostly. To document and remember. I'm not a scrapbooker! So this is what I'll have to recall these wonderful days.
Since last post..Sadie is doing well. We hit some minor snags with her latest surgery. Basically, after we got the new cast off, her wrist was still bent in some. She had a splint for 3 weeks that was supposed to be a wrist splint/ thumb splint combo. It was okay..but not ideal. But it was the best they could do for both at the same time. After that, we moved to just a wrist splint. It holds her wrist straight beautifully. But, when taken off, it still turns in some. Not bad..but the concern is that since her wrist almost immediately moved back inwards after taking the pin out, that it will slowly continue to move inwards over time. The splint is suppossed to help prevent that until her muscles "tighten up" and her wrist decides where it's permanent location will be. Then we'll move to just wearing the splint at night. She *might* have to have a "revision surgery" on the wrist according to her surgeon, but it's just kind of wait and see for now. Her thumb is doing okay. It looks good. She doesn't use it near as well as her other thumb. But she never used that hand as well as her other hand anyway. Her fingers on that left hand are more stiff and always have been. But she uses it some and she's happy. She picks things up with it and smiles from ear to ear. And she'll sing "Where is Thumbkin" and is thrilled that she can do it with TWO thumbs now. We've been doing OT once a week since she got her cast off and will probably move to every two weeks soon. We go back in a week to Atlanta to have her thumb / wrist checked out again there.
Sadie also had a nephrology appointment to check up on her kidneys early December. It went very well and there are no problems with her kidneys. We don't have to go back for two years this time..so that was good news. Her dr. there reinforced what he told me the first time. He doesn't expect kidney problems in Sadie. But because one kidney was a bit small and because they are located in unusal positions, he wants to keep a check on them "from time to time". But he told us to just enjoy life and "check in every once in a while" as she grows.
Hannah, meanwhile, had an appointment with an oral surgeon back in Nov. She's had a break from all things medical for a while. But that's changing (and she doens't like it one bit). The appointment itself was not a big deal. He looked at dental x-rays, looked briefly in her mouth, and that was pretty much it. But he thinks it's time to do her bone graft to repair the small hole left in her gumline soon. He said she's a great size / weight and age to do it now. And she will need significant orthodontic work at some point afterwards (which we knew). However, she does not need any orthodontic work before the surgery, which is good news. Some kids do before this surgery. I decided to wait until early summer for the surgery, because Hannah will need to be home resting for several days post-surgery. The surgeon felt fine about waiting that long. He does want to pull 3 upper teeth before the surgery if she doesn't lose them before then. She's at the age where she *could* lose them on her own, but seeing as she doesn't have any loose teeth yet, it's not looking very likely. (But I'd love it if she did..much less traumatic!). So, we go back April 1st to have the teeth pulled, and then will have the surgery late May or early June most likely.
Hannah also had an ENT appointment the week before Christmas. I had become slightly concerned about her hearing and her ears back in October. I asked her speech therapist at school to check her hearing, which she did. (because she's wonderful!). I was concerned about Hannah's ear tubes being blocked or falling out. ANd Hannah's LOUDNESS made me wonder if she was having a problem with fluid in her ears and having fluctuating hearing loss. (By the way, turns out Hannah is just LOUD). Anyway, her speech therapist checked her hearing 3 times for me between Oct. and Dec. She failed the first screening, and passed the second two. I could "hear" fluid in Hannah's ears when she pushed her hand up on her ear (gross, I know), so I called and made her an appointment. Hannah HATES anything to do with her ears. I mean, the girl hates shots, but I think she'd rather have a shot than have anyone mess with her ears. So, she was very NOT excited about this appointment.
However, I pulled out the heavy encouragement..complete with Bobble, our magic Elf, appearing in her backpack with a note "be brave! you can hold me!". First, she had a hearing screening. Her hearing was *mostly* normal. She was showing a mild loss at the low frequencies (which is what she showed on her very first audiogram right after adoption..since then she's shown normal though). The audiologist did a bone conduction test afterwards, which bypasses her outer ear and shows what her hearing is like without factoring in fluid, etc. That test was normal. (good news..it just means she has fluid or wax or something). They were also able to tell that her tubes were still in and open. So, then we see the ENT. Hannah lets him look in her ears, and then he (an intern..actually a pretty wimpy intern!) tells her he has to clean the wax out because he can't see. Hannah didn't like that idea at all and started crying, just a little though. But the intern didn't know what to do once she started crying. (we're talking very mild..and still very cooperative!). In the end, he decides he can't do it and to let her see the regular ENT. who is great. But he decided not to clean her ears out anyway because he wants to just remove her tubes. They've been in over 3 years, so it really is time. They don't like to leave them in any longer than that. So, now we have an appointment towards the end of Jan. to have her tubes removed. Very simple outpatient surgery. No IV. Should be easy...except that nothing medical is easy with Hannah so we'll see. The good news is that once the tubes are out and the hole heals, she can get her ears wet without it bothering her so much. And I can put drops in her ears to control the wax (which I can't do with tubes). So, hopefully it will be a good thing. And she hasn't had an ear infection in close to a year. However, he did tell me that sometimes in kids with clefts, they have to put a 2nd set of tubes in. So, they'll re-evaluate in 6 months.
Well, life here has been about much more than medical appointments. I wanted to write about Christmas and some other things..hmm..guess that'll be the next post.
