Sigh...

Some facts about Henry: he's the one in 8,500 kids who has Pierre-Robin. He's the 1% who almost didn't need tubes in his ears during cleft palate surgery. Both the surgeon and pediatrician in the past week have used this analogy: "you know the Bell curve? Henry is the kid on the far right side..." Knowing all this, we shouldn'thave been too surprised that he's one in a lot that developed a hole in his brand new palate.

On Tuesday, we had our routine two week post-op check. Dr. Waldorf noticed a small hole in the middle of his palate. It only went though one of the two layers of repair, and she wasn't too worried. Our instructions: don't worry, keep the restraints on another week and continue the soft foods. (the last two were easy to comply with)

Last night, Henry was more cranky than normal. Lucas and I looked in his mouth and the hole was a lot bigger. Panic set in. We also noticed the "cleft palate breathing" again. The sound of air escaping from his palate through his nose. More panic, more expletives. We called the doctor, and were told to come in first thing this morning.

So, this morning we went to the doctor. She is so nice and reassuring. Yes, the small hole is bigger, and yes it goes all the way through. BUT, she is happy that the muscle portion of the repair is intact, and this is the functional part of the palate (for speech). She drew a picture of the incision. Picture a straight line in the middle of your mouth. The hole is in the middle of this line. Almost under the nose. Her hope, is that this hole will heal by itself in the next 6-12 months. Best case scenario: no surgery. Worse case: surgery to close the hole. Middle case: he keeps a small hole and is the kids that can squirt chocolate milk out his nose.

Sigh... Henry better take good care of us when we're old... he has caused us a lot of stress. Good thing he's cute! Lucas has taken to dealing with the stress by reading cookbooks in small enclosures.

Our next post-op appointment is next Wednesday. Hopefully we don't have to see her before.