August 6th, 2008

We arrived at Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis around noon. Her surgery was scheduled for 2pm. They had a wagon for Leah to pull around, stickers, toys and attention distractors, but after awhile...Leah knew something was up. She wouldn't let nurse take her vitals very easily. Her strong will came out and probably because of some memory of past health care. All the doctors visited before the surgery. Very communicative staff. Dan's mother, Sally, came to help get her off to surgery and later to be with Leah's siblings at home. It was great to have her support.

The surgery went well overall, but Dr. Havlick did tell us that the front part of the cleft did not have enough tissue to make for a strong repair. (A few days after the surgery, she developed 2 small fistulas near her canine teeth--we were distraught for a couple of days, but nothing to do for it now). The rest of the repair attached well, and she is learning to talk since September!

Her recovery was very painful and we had to feed her pureed foods and liquids for 8 weeks, with some pastas and softened foods the last couple of weeks. The first night at the hospital was so hard. I couldn't sleep with all the noise, and she awoke so much in pain or wanting to lay in my arms(that got tiring). Dan came in the morning to relieve me, and then she was released in the afternoon after she had shown she could eat and drink. They had a thread through her tongue to keep it out of the way during surgery! They did cut that off before leaving, thank goodness. She had to wear the arm bands/restraints , though, to keep her hands out of her mouth. It was quite the ordeal to keep her from taking those off the first few weeks--we had to pin them to her clothing! Then she adapted and got used to them...actually would get them for us to put back on after a bath or changing. Tylenol with codeine was the only alloted pain killer at home, but we gave that up after a couple days...it was more trouble than it was worth. The regular ibuprofen seemed to be enough to take the edge off the pain.

This is nothing I'd like to relive, but we are thankful the Lord gave us the strength to make it through. Her fun personality returned and she slowly got used to eating regular foods again.

She shouldn't need another surgery for a year and a half. They can repair the fistulas at that time.

Whew! Ready for a reprieve with the fall school starting.