Quick update

Well, it is now July 21, 2010.
We have been home almost 3 weeks. It is amazing to think that as of Monday, Mari-Grace will have been with me for 5 weeks. WOW ... how fast time flies !!!!
I can't remember life without her. What did I ever do?

I love being a Mom. It is the hardest job I've ever done ... but the most rewarding also.
Mari-Grace is very good. She is happy, and she is settling in very well.

Let's see ... what do I need to update everyone on ...

MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS

We saw Dr. Lisa Buckmiller at AR Children's Hospital last Wednesday.
She looked at her palate and lip ... and said YES ... we can fix this !!!
Mari-Grace had to have an awful amount of ear-wax removed. You know the scene in SHREK where he pulls out the ear-wax then lights it like a candle ... well that's what came out of that poor babies ears !!! YUCK !!!!

So ... here is the plan for now.
September 14 will be our first round of surgeries. She'll actually have 3 procedures done at that time and will have to spend 2-3 nights in the hospital :-(

1. Cleft Palate Repair ... Dr. B will close her palate. This will create a "normal" hard and soft palate. This will allow Mari-Grace to develop speech patterns properly ... with the help of some speech therapy in the near future. The palate repair will also help avoid the problem of having food getting stuck up in her nose. She may have a small hole in the roof of her mouth even after the palate repair, but it will be a GREAT improvement.

2. Lip Adhesion ... Dr. B will actually stretch the sides of her upper lip up to meet the part that sticks out under her nose. This procedure will help to stretch her lip so that when the actual lip repair is done, it will work better. Her lip will be closed, but it will not be a "final" product. It is more of a temporary fix to get her ready for the big surgery on her lip.

3. Tubes in her ears. Cleft kids tend to have short eustachian tubes. This makes it hard for the tubes to drain properly thus keeping an accumulation of fluid in the ear canal behind the eardrum. It makes her hearing seem muffled. It also sets her up to have more ear infections.
So ... we'll get tubes to improve hearing and prevent infections.

TODAY we went to the regular pediatrician. I really liked her a lot. Dr. Wilson was impressed with Mari-Grace's state of health. For a child that came from an orphanage setting, she found no developmental delays ... with the exception of speech. She expects to see her speech begin to improve with surgery and speech therapy in the future. Mari-Grace was 34 inches tall and weighed 25 pounds. Right on target for the American growth chart. For now, we are going to work on getting her beef'd up for surgery ... daily vitamins, lots of fats and proteins, and well balanced meals.
The unfortunate part of the appointment was re-starting routine vaccinations.
Since we are unsure of the quality of the vaccinations given in China, Dr. Wilson felt it was best to just start all over, and I agreed. Therefore ... we had 5 shots today. That was horrible.
We had to have a blood draw to check for anemia ... and some other things that I can't recall right now.

So ... we are done with doctors until September 14 !!!
Keep us in your prayers.
We are doing well, and we are very appreciative of your support !!!