Now I Will Praise the Lord

We went to Lily's follow up appointment with the plastic surgeon yesterday. She was 11 days post op. Here is a picture of her playing with the doctor's swivel chair in our exam room while waiting for Dr. Hoffman.


Dr. Hoffman looked in her mouth with a tongue depressor (she was not pleased), and said that everything looks great! She is healing well, and told me that she should still eat liquids and wear her no-no's until Saturday. I had some questions about the leakage that I had seen when she would eat yogurt (a teeny bit would come out of her nose still) and her vocal tone (which is better, but still nasal). He explained that he had to leave two small holes right at the gumline to allow for her jaw to grow properly. Those holes will be there until she gets her bone graft surgery when she is 9 or 10 to fix her cleft gumline. I will seriously try to draw a diagram or take a photo so all of this is a little clearer. Anyway, it is possible that there will be some minimal leakage until that time. However, he said that as her palate heals up and moves and stretches more, she will be able to control that better. As far as the nasal tone, part of that is that she probably will need speech therapy to help her learn how to make proper sounds. Already, when Lily laughs now, it sounds much more normal - like a baby giggle - instead of how it used to sound (throaty and nasal). Well, one step at a time, and it definitely seems to me that this is a process that involves intervention, but also a lot of growth and adjustment and development that should happen naturally over time for Lil.

Ok, so UCSF hospital and clinics are on this street called Parnassus. But if you drive just a couple of blocks on Parnassus, it turns into Judah Street.


I love that because it struck me that Judah means, "Now I will praise the Lord." And I do :-). He has been so very kind and gracious to Lily and the whole family.