Update on Lily

On Tuesday we had an appointment with Lily's surgeon. At this time, Lily is not progressing with the clarity of her speech and therefore we have discontinued her speech therapy (for now) and are looking at another surgery. It appears that she is not fully using the muscles in her palate and the palate needs to be extended to enable the flap in the back to close when making certain sounds. During this surgery they will adjust the muscles in the palate and stimulate them to make sure they are working properly and have not been damaged in her previous surgery. It is not a 100% guarantee fix, but he sees about a 90% increase in speech clarity after this operation. I have complete confidence in her surgeon and know that if anyone can do it he can!
In addition to the palate being revised, she will also need a revision to her nose/lip. Currently she is not able to breath very much out of the cleft side of her nose. You really wouldn't know it by looking at her, in my opinion! However this is what is best for her in the long run. This part of the surgery has me a little more stressed out than the other. Apart from soft foods for a month after the surgery due to the palate, Lily's nose will be packed for a week and then....are you ready for it....I wasn't....tubes in her nose for 3 MONTHS!!! Are you kidding me?!??! And yes, you will see the tubes! My poor baby. I know this is going to benefit her greatly, but I hate to see my little girl in pain. The recovery from her last surgery is still very fresh in my mind and it was brutal. I am not going to sugar coat it. It was ALOT of sleepless nights and the hospital stay was just AWFUL!!!!! I am hoping and praying for a quicker and more managable recovery this time.
I am so used to looking at her beautiful little face just the way it is and it is about to change. I know it probably sounds weird, but it saddens me some.
From the first picture of saw of her beautiful face:

To the one after her first surgery:

To after the second surgery:

I will miss that quirky litte nose!
On another note, we recieved Lily's passport. So as long as she is cleared to go after her surgery (hoping to have that done in November), she will be heading on a jet plane with us to China to bring Liam home!