Good News On The Medical Front

After meeting with the entire group of doctors at the Cranio-Facial clinic at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (surgeon, dentist, orthodontist, speech pathologist, ENT, etc, etc), we got very good news on Anna. Our surgeon said the surgeon in Beijing did a very good job at her cleft lip repair and there would be little to no other corrections needed. He said we'll monitor as she gets older but was very pleased with the work. And now we definitely know why she is so LOUD...she can't hear! Poor thing has fluid in her ears and so we will have ear tubes put in to assist with drainage and this will help her get fewer ear infections and help her to hear better. Once she can hear how LOUD she is, we are hoping this will help her tone it down!! :-) On 1/29, she will have surgery to put tubes in her ears, built a stint for her cleft palate repair, and have repair done on missing enamel on her front teeth. All done on an out patient basis. Then on 2/18, it is time for the "big" surgery...cleft palate repair. We'll be at the hospital for a few days. But the doctor feels Anna's palate is going to be fairly easy to repair (even though it is bilateral complete) and straightforward. We were thrilled. After that, she'll have about 5-6 more surgeries before she's 18. But all this will culminate in Anna living a completely "normal" life...we couldn't be more thankful!