May 19th!

That is the official date for Carter's next surgery!

We met with the final surgeon on the roster today.

Carter has three different doctors working on him, plus he'll have an Echocardiogram and ABR (hearing test) done as well. It's going to be one LONG day, but we're up for the challenge.

The major things that are happening for him is that he's going to be getting his soft palate completely repaired.  This could be a life changing surgery because it "should" make it a lot easier for him to eat and make vocalizations.  It may even improve his breathing.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it improves things on all accounts, but guarded because I don't want to be disappointed.

The second thing that is happening is he is getting some work done on his right eyelid.  Since he can't close it completely, there is a chance that he could dry out his cornia and create some serious damage.  The doctor will be doing a surgery to make his eyelid less tight.  He still won't be able to blink it, BUT his eyelid will look much more uniform to his left eye, and he'll be able to almost close it when he sleeps.  He'll have another surgery done when he is five to insert a gold weight which will help him to blink. At least we'll be making more progress.

Of course I'm nervous, but I'm also excited at having a few more things crossed off of our list, and to see what the outcome is.  It's a blur of emotions I guess.

Is it just me, or are those cheeks getting REALLY chubby?!?!

Carter also had a speech evaluation done today.  It was mainly to see if we were doing OK with the services we are receiving through Early Intervention, or if we needed to add some private therapists. I'm very happy to say that Carter showed off for the Speech Therapist, and she doesn't think that he needs any more help right now.  She said that she believes he is pretty close to the SIX MONTH level.  Now, he certainly doesn't babble as much as a six month old, or put together syllables, BUT she said that if you take into consideration the language he is using with the obstacles (clefts, hearing loss) he has to overcome to use it, that is where he is. I try very hard not to compare Carter to other babies...because...well...he's not other babies, but this news was still a little exciting to me.  I can't help but always have in my mind that he's a three month old, but Mommy needs to wake up because this little guy is moving forward without me!