A Good Day!

Yesterday we had our one year follow up visit at Walter Reed. It's a long day for both of us. We had to leave our house by 6:00 a.m., run through the clinics associated with the cleft team throughout the morning, stick around for lunch, then meet back with the entire team later in the afternoon for their evaluation. It's amazing to see the difference a year makes. Not only that Michelle is doing better from the results of last years surgery and months of speech therapy, but just that she is a year older and much more comfortable with herself.

Last year she had only been home with us a few weeks when we did this clinic. This year, she knows me. It's hard to explain this dynamic, but those of you who have adopted know what I'm talking about.

She breezed through most of the clinics, but again, we had a lot of "fun" at the ENT clinic. Thankfully they saved that one for last this time. She has unbelievable amounts of ear wax - I've asked several times if there is anything I can do to prevent or help with this, but I'm always told it's just the way she is. So, she had to become a burrito (wrapped in velcro straps on a board) while they dig around in her ears to remove the wax. It's hard for any mom to watch your child be restrained, but I think it's especially hard for me to watch Michelle. I hope she never went through something like that at her orphanage, but you never know. I just pray the whole time she will know I'm there with her and it won't cause any emotional scars. She was a trooper - she was unhappy, but seemed to understand it was o.k. as long as I stayed close by.

The final evaluation was a good one and what we expected to hear. While she does have more surgeries in her future, those are down the road. For now, we just have to keep a close eye on one of her ear tubes that isn't working properly (still in place but closed), continue with speech therapy, and we'll check back in next year.

We came home to enjoy some outside time. This is the first day we have been outside to play, and you can see by the expression on Michelle's face that she was a happy girl. I love the first picture. I kept trying to get her to smile, but she kept opening her mouth. I guess she had been doing that all day, so she thought that was what I wanted her to do.


Yeah for spring! Happy girl!