To our excitement, the Surgeon said she looked great! He said everything was healing nicely and then gave us the green light to begin solids. If you remember, she was never offered solids in her Orphanage. We briefly tried offering them to her when we first met her, but because of her open palate, they would immediately come out of her nose and she would begin screaming. We just decided that we would hold off until after the surgery, and then re-introduce them to her. I was a little nervous about trying solids today. He suggested trying pureed baby foods first and then after a few days, try some table food.
So....
We broke out the baby food..and BOY did she LOVE it!!!! We even lost a bow in the process!!
I think we may be on to something. She is going to be SO much happier now that she can eat real food. We saw an instant change in her just after the first jar of food.
The Surgeon said that the chances of the surgery failing (a small percentage do, due to a fistula or trauma) is very narrow. He said in his time, he has only had to go back and re-do a first time palate closure 3 times. Those are pretty good odds. And so his only directions for us were to continue to watch her closely with her fingers, keep hard toys away from her for awhile, and no sharp foods...ohh..and he doesn't need to see her back until November, where she will then be evaluated by the entire Cleft Team. We will keep her on medication for pain, until we see that it has seemed to subside. He said there is no given timeline for how long she may still have pain. She is currently pretty uncomfortable if we stretch out her doses, and so we are learning that if we keep the doses closer together, she feels better and feeds better.
We are so relieved to have this surgery behind us and to SEE the results. What a blessing to have the ability to have given her this surgery. She is going to do AMAZING!!!
Blessings,
Angie
