the cleft team ROCKS!

Ok, so in a nutshell our day at UNC could not have gone any better!  I loved it!  So did John Paul, once he forgave me for waking him up and putting him in the car seat at 7am.  Oh he was so mad at me and kept asking to go back to bed!  But we were on the interstate within minutes of pulling out of the driveway... I pointed out one 18-wheeler and he dried his tears long enough to focus on the big truck (much bigger than anything we see in Asia).  A second one passed and by the time the third truck came into view John Paul decided it was time to stop crying and added "18 wheeler" to his vocabulary.

We met physicians in 8 different specialties and (no surprise) John Paul charmed the socks off each and every one.  The message we heard over and over was this: He is doing great.  Great.  Great.  Great.  Yes, he needs speech help (we knew that) but - good news - none of his speech issues are related to how his palate functions now.  His missing palate dramatically affected the way that his speech developed pre-surgery, but the palate the surgeons created last Christmas is functioning perfectly.  He needs time and speech therapy (to help him learn now what he should have learned innately as an infant/young toddler). 

We are anticipating a (very minor, outpatient, easy peasy) surgery in the next few weeks to put in ear tubes.  Other than that, we aren't looking at another surgery until between the ages of 7 and 9.  Music to this mama's ears as our last surgery experience was no picnic and I'm not looking forward to a repeat experience. 

The pic is John Paul at his last stop - pediatric dentistry - with a group of doctors who specialize in cleft patients.  This was the most intimidating group of doctors by far, and John Paul was a champ right til the very end.

The way the 'cleft team' works is that all the professionals on the team - oral surgeons, palate surgeons, dentists, nurse practitioner, speech language pathologist, ENT, psychologist - all these people see John Paul on one day.  These folks work together as a team, and after we left UNC they all met and decided on the best possible care plan for him, all working together, all consulting with their expertise in different disciplines.

We'll get the final team report in the next few days.  And we'll be with this 'team' for all his care.  His next surgery, any follow up issues, anything.... it all happens through this team of people.  I couldn't be more pleased or more thankful for how the day went.

Thankful.  Thankful for this little boy.