Now for the “interesting” facts…during surgery the doctors had drawn some blood to test for the presence of Chromosome 22 which is sometimes missing in children that have a cleft pallet (which can signal potential health issues later on).
The good news is that we received a call about a week after the surgery informing us that Caroline does have Chromosome 22. However, the test also revealed that she has “Turner Syndrome” which can signal difficulties with growth and fertility. Turner Syndrome is when a female has one instead of two “x” chromosomes. The confusing fact about Caroline is that she has cells lines with both “x” and “xxx” chromosomes.
Because this pattern is unusual, we went to a ton of doctor appointments and had numerous tests performed. All the tests (echo cardiogram, kidneys, ultrasound, etc.) came back normal. Also, Caroline is growing fine and doesn’t appear to have physical characteristics often found with Turner Syndrome children. Bottom line is that we simply have to monitor her growth going forward. If she slips on the growth charts, we will visit the specialists at UNC Hospital to see if any growth hormones are needed. If she continues to grow normally, the doctors suspect that the “x” and “xxx” chromosomes might be balancing each other out and everything will be fine.
We are very thankful for God’s sovereign control over Caroline’s life. He knew that Caroline would need both cleft pallet and Turner Syndrome specialists, and UNC Hospital (45 minutes from our house) has great doctors who handle both. We continue to thank Him for the blessing of making her part of our family.
