Heading back to the OR :)

Today we had swimming lessons, a visit with the audiologist, an appointment with the ENT surgeon and speech therapy all between the hours of 1-5pm. Sofie fell asleep on the way home :)

We found out from the ENT surgeon  that Sofie has velopharyngeal insufficiency. She is unable to close the velopharyngeal sphincter during speech. She can't force air out through her mouth therefore she sounds hyper nasal and cannot say consonants. She tries so hard but she just can't do it. They will take down part of her palate, lengthen it and narrow it. They will also move some of the muscles on either side of her palate or something like that. By this point in the explanation my head was spinning and I had trouble remembering what he was saying. She also has an ear tube that has dislodged and because of her extremely large tonsils, they will have to be removed prior to her palate surgery. Her tonsils are HUGE! They don't seem to bug her though, there just isn't enough room in there for all of her anatomy so something has to go. The icky part is that the tonsils and the palate cannot be done together. Tonsils are a "dirty" surgery, the palate is "clean" and they have to be done at least 6 weeks apart. We are going to be in the OR a lot this summer. Not how I had envisioned our summer, but so be it. I just hope it helps her and she is able to leap over this hurdle.

I am not going to lie to you. The last palate surgery was brutal. The surgery was fine, the two weeks after were not so much fun. The pneumonia and the months of night terrors is something I would like to avoid. I am so very hopeful that these surgeries will help her over this bump in the road. At the same time, it makes me so sad that this little spitfire is going to have to go through the pain and turmoil of not one, but two surgeries. Both surgeries are an overnight stay in the hospital so not only does it affect Sofie, but, also Ainsley. I am not looking forward to telling Ainsley about it. She is so very sensitive and emotional and she remembers what it was like last summer.

I know that we will come out of this stronger and closer that ever. Sofie is so amazing, and her sister, just as wonderful. We are very lucky. We have two very special little girls :)