Wow...we have good news!

On Thursday this week, we had our first appointment with the Rose Cleft and Craniofacial team at Rose Medical Center.   This team of doctors volunteer their time to evaluate their patients and provide "next steps" for care.  Even though not all of the doctors on this team are part of Hannah's excellent team, it is another un-bias opinion for her care. 

during the course of the day, we met with the following providers:

Plastic Surgery - happened that Hannah’s amazing Plastic Surgeon was part of the team that day...she is VERY pleased with Hannah’s results and progress to say the least.   Hannah ahs a small fistula (hole) in the roof of her mouth still, about the size of a piece of orzo pasta.  nothing that we need to worry about quite yet, but eventually will have a procedure to close it up.  it will matter more when she is eating more and talking more, but for now, we will let it be.  we also discussed when we will pin her ear back (malformed due to CHARGE Association) to get some symmetry as well as help keep her hearing aids on.  likely it will be a 3 surgery process, maybe start that in a year or so...maybe longer. 

Speech Therapy – the speech therapist is “chomping at the bit” to get Hannah speaking! She is ready to explode with sounds and then words…we will ramp up her speech therapy starting this month!

Pediatric Dentist – with having grandpa as a pediatric dentist himself…we are in the catch birds seat! The dentist said her teeth looked great, no cross bite, a bit of an under bite on the left side, but all in all…keep brushing and keeping them clean. Even though Hannah does not eat anything by mouth, it is still VERY important to brush her teeth as she actually ahs a greater risk of plaque and tarter build up as she is not naturally moving things around to prevent this build up with food.

pediatrician – has no major concerns but can see that Hannah is ready to just let go and walk any day! She wants to get Hannah involved in a feeding/swallowing clinic thru children’s hospital Colorado to help her learn how to swallow…we will get this going too!

Oral Surgeon & Orthodontist – no major concerns quite yet, but we really won’t need to see either of them until her permanent teeth begin to come it. We should expect to bone graft around age 10.

The short of the long day is we will ramp up speech therapy and get into the feeding clinic ASAP!

Also, Hannah once again touched the hearts of everyone she met on Thursday…no surprise there.

Happy weekend! We are ready for SPRING!