First of all, a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for praying for Britty. I really, really appreciate it and know she’s doing well thanks to all of YOU! I got lots of messages, calls, texts, sweet gifts, and so much more. I’m so thankful for each and everyone of you. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for loving our girl both near and far.
If you missed it, Britt went in for a lip and nose revision surgery on Monday. Britt had her first lip and nose revision in China, but our doctor here in Texas wanted to tweak those a bit for two reasons…1. He thought he could do a great job. 2. The first surgery was when she about eight months old so everything had changed, moved, grown since then. I’m gonna do my best to share as much information as I can, because I’d have loved to read a blog post about this type of surgery/recovery prior to Britt’s for the extra recommendations. When we were in her preop appointments on Thursday her doctor decided he should also lengthen her palate while she was in surgery. I think this can be pretty common for kiddos with a cleft palate. It makes a whole lot of sense to me…her doctor worked on her palate two and a half years ago. While she doesn’t have any holes {often called “fissures” in the cleft world}, everything else had grown except her palate so for speech purposes to help with air flow he thought she needed a little more. I panicked just knowing how much more extensive the recovery would be when you’re now including her palate. Think “feed her whatever she wants” to “only liquids for a week and then you can incorporate some super liquidy foods the next week”. That in itself is a big difference. It’s hard sometimes to do things that are painful even though we know we’ll be so glad we did this.
Monday everything went really well. Her surgery was successful and she did great in recovery. Great enough, in fact, they let us come home Monday afternoon. She was sick for several hours that evening but slept ALL NIGHT LONG {HUGE PRAISE!}. She slept off/on, watched television, and chilled all day yesterday. I spent my day on the couch right beside her, which explains this quick, little blog post. I just wanted you to know we’re so thankful for you and let you know how she’s doing.
Right now she’s on liquids only and I’m not really pushing a ton on her. She’s drinking when she’s thirsty. I know we have a long way to go with this recovery but to help {hopefully}, I ordered her new Frozen cups {I was encouraged to get some new cups she’d think were fun so whatever your kiddo is “into”}. She can only use cups, no straws or anything that will go inside her mouth. Dixie paper cups were our best friend during her first palate surgery so I have those on hand as well.
This saline spray is helping us keep the wounds moisturized. My mom just happened to bring this digital tablet as a little gift and Britt has been drawing and erasing on repeat. Over the next couple weeks, I have smoothies, juice, Gatorade, water, Sprite, angel hair pasta-super liquidy, mashed potatoes, yogurt, and lots of apple sauce. If you have any experience with a similar surgery and have something that worked well during recovery for your child, PLEASE comment with suggestions!! She’s in a good place today but I know she’s gonna get hungry and I’d love any suggestions!
Again, THANK YOU, for all the prayers! Hope you have a great day!
XO
