I know...We have been delinquent. The everyday takes over and the last thing I think about is spending time on the computer in the midst of diapers and discipline.
I'm out of practice...
But I thought this news was big enough to inform anyone who is still waiting...
We spent the day at Children's Memorial Hospital yesterday. We left the house at 7:45 in the am and returned about the same time in the pm. If the number of doctors who met with us had been individual appointments our co-pay alone would have been $120! (That's $20 a visit... you do the math.) One of my favorite moments of the day was when a handful of medical professionals walked in and started talking with us, one of them, in his white coat, asked Lia to open to say "ahhh", stuck a flashlight in her mouth and walked out. I turned to Luciana and said, "And who was that?" We both shrugged our shoulders. He was never seen again.
Our hope and prayer was that we would have a plan by the end of the day. That prayer was answered.
The next three steps are insurance, tooth extraction and ear tubes, and then the closing of the palate.
First, we wait to hear from our insurance about what will be covered under medical (hopefully all of it), what will be covered under dental, and what will come from our own pockets (hopefully a $20 co-pay.)
Second, will be the tooth extraction and ear tubes which should take place in the middle of September. There are a couple of teeth that are in the way, making the closing of the palate more difficult.
Third, the surgeon will remove part of the bone in the roof of her mouth, take part of a rib to create a more natural curve for the upper gum line, and close the palate. She said that after this surgery, Lia will have a very different profile. The little face that we have become so accustomed to will be no more.
I wish you could have been there to watch their minds at work. It was absolutely amazing. The surgeon would come in, take a look in her mouth, tell us what she thought and go to talk to the team. Then the dentist would come in, look at her teeth and say that something else seemed to make more sense, and he would bring the surgeon back. She would take another look, they'd both step out and pull in the surgeon in charge of the tooth extraction. Meanwhile they each had at least one medical student trailing behind getting the schooling of a lifetime!
Finally, at about 5:00, the surgeon came back to explain what had been going over our heads for most of the day. She also told us that she will be using a tool to spread her gum line so her teeth will grow where they are supposed to. She said this would take six months with spacers. She will do it in 60 minutes during the surgery!
Our daughter is in capable hands, to put it mildly.
Please pray for her. Although this must all be done, and done as quickly as possible, we can't help but think of the violent act of ripping out bone and replacing it with other bone from her rib. Her life will be infinitely better for it, but you can't explain that to a two and a half year old. Pray for the comfort of the Father.
Thank you.
