Urban Goes Country

So....
After I sent a second picture to the cleft palate surgery nurse, I got a call at 8:30 on Friday morning, saying the surgeon wanted us to come in ASAP. Another trip to Little Rock, and another surgery Friday afternoon. The surgeon explained that some of her palate had disappeared. She had to reinforce the stitches that were still remaining but she was not able to repair the hole until the tissue is allowed to heal. She (Dr. Buckmiller) thinks that Zoya must be sucking on her tongue at night while she sleeps, since the hands that she normally sucks on are restrained. The suction effect must have pulled out the stitches. So what this means is that half of the hole in her palate....is back. I can't tell you how depressing that is just to type out. Poor girl has had so many setbacks. The doctor explained that Zoya does not have much going for her in the self-healing department: a poor nutritional status, low immune status, her age, her activity level. She says while it is rare for a cleft to come undone like that, Zoya would have been at risk and so it was no huge surprise, I guess.

So one surgery has basically turned into three surgeries. We will have to start all over again once the tissue heals itself, in six or eight months. Meanwhile we keep doing what we're doing, giving her liquids only, and keeping hands and objects out of her mouth. I did ask about the retainer, which one person commented about. The surgeon said they don't typically use the retainers because it traps infection. She was willing to consider it, but the orthodontic surgeon was out (Good Friday) as were other doctors whose opinion would have come in handy. I think it might be a good idea for the next surgery so I will definitely bring it up again.

We have a follow up in Little Rock next week. I am soooo thankful to our wonderful friends, the Lorraines, who have opened their home up to us over and over again. It came in real handy on Friday night when we were discharged late. I have not been sleeping well since I'm up multiple times every night making sure Zoya hasn't gotten out of her restraints, or gotten twisted up in her tube feeding tube. So I was so grateful to be able to stay with the Lorraines. It's fun to reminisce about our time together in Ukraine while we were adopting Joseph and Zoya, and they were adopting Oksana.