Surgery's Done!!

We mentioned in our Christmas post that Caroline was scheduled to have surgery at UNC Hospital January 11th to repair her cleft pallet. We are thankful to report that everything went well and she is now recovering at home. The 3-4 hour surgery also included having tubes put into her ears as ear infections are common in children with cleft pallets (the doctors estimate new tubes will probably be necessary another 3 or 4 times). We have a followup visit with the surgeon this week to make sure he is comfortable with Caroline’s progress. Assuming everything is fine, the next stage will be for us to begin speech therapy as the soft pallet (the location of Caroline’s cleft) is very important in creating the sounds necessary to produce words. THANKS to our many friends who have provided meals for this coming week! We are not getting much restful sleep and Caroline needs lots of comforting during the day, so we appreciate all of you so much. We also must thank God our Creator who is intimately involved in Caroline's life. We praise Him for His goodness to our family: Psalm 105:1 - "Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim His greatness. Let the whole world know what He has done."

Caroline showing off her new hospital ID bracelet before surgery.

Waiting for surgery….nice socks!

Fortunately, Caroline was heavily medicated so she was not feeling as bad as she looks in this picture. The black string taped to the side of her face is attached to a stitch in her tongue. This was needed just in case her tongue swelled after surgery and needed to be pulled forward. Thankfully it didn’t swell and the stitch was removed a few hours later.

Although this picture shows Scott with Caroline, Amy actually spent the night with her at the hospital while Scott was at home with Joshua and Katie (and Nana Hall).

This picture represents how Caroline has felt for the first few days after surgery….weepy, uncomfortable, needing to be held. We give her amoxicillin 3 times each day, ear drops twice per day, and pain medicine every 4 hours. Given all that, Caroline is handling everything incredibly well.

On Sunday, we decided to get out of the house and go on a bike ride. Being outside really picks up Caroline’s spirit. She already seems to be getting some of her spunk back.