Pre-Surgery Appointments

Yesterday, Paeton, Jodi and I ventured to Children's Hospital for an appointment with her surgeon as well as a speech therapist appointment. With her surgeon, Dr.Jensen, we reviewed how the surgery will take place, what precautions to keep in mind beforehand and the recovery period. To me, it sounds like a lot of this is case by case. He doesn't know how long she will be in the hospital and he doesn't know how long she will need to recover. It was very hard to hear all of this especially since we as a family hadn't focused on it in a very long time. We have just been living day to day, not really thinking about the surgery, because that's the easiest thing to do. It all hit me yesterday and hit me hard.

He also informed us that not much has grown in her mouth since birth - she has a significant amount of her mouth missing. He's going to do the best he can but there are no guarantees that one surgery will be enough. Jodi and I are dealing with this the best we can and just trying to be there for each other and of course for Paeton. The most wonderful thing is that she is just such a happy baby and has no idea this is going on. I try to cry when I'm not with her so she doesn't see 'mama' sad.

Speaking of....we've been practicing key words with Paeton so that her speech develops right on track with other children her age. I've been saying 'mama' over and over. Well, 2 nights ago we were in Target and she looked right up at me from the cart and said 'mama'. Of course I bawled. I'm a mess these days...

Paeton with her trusty banana sitting on the table like a big girl at Dr.Jensen's office.