Doctors, doctors and more doctors.....

Today was Avah's first "official" doctor's appointment with our pediatrician. I say official, since she already met with him when she had chicken pox.

She did great, but I'm not surprised. She was very cooperative and happy the whole time. She whimpered for two seconds during her tetnus shot but other than that, it went very well.

Avah is officially 36 inches tall and weighs 26 pounds now! woohoo!













Today was also our first visit with the Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children Craniofacial Team. Overall the visit went better than I could have expected. We heard such postiive feedback from all members of the team. They were all VERY AMAZED at how much she already knew for only being here for such a short time.

We met with the various specialists on the team including the Speech Language Pathologist who was the person I was really intersted in talking to. She was very impressed with Avah's imitation skills and how much English she already knew. Avah counted to 10 for her, she sang the ABC song and said a list of other words. She had her repeat certain sounds and Avah did great. The most difficult sounds were the "friction sounds" like "f, s, sh and z". My homework is to practice these sounds with her. She also said that Avah was "a little hyper-nasal" which is common for children with cleft palates.






This is the Audiologist on the team, Christine Sofie, PhD doing a test on Avah's ears. She said that Avah's ears "looked good" so while they are "good" we should get a baseline audio exam done.

Avah meets with one of the plastic surgeons, Craig Dufresne, MD, Medical Director. He said that her palate is a little short and we will need to watch it as she grows.

The team's Otolaryngologist (aka ENT), Josef Gurian, MD, is examining Avah's ears. He said it was a little difficult to see because she has some wax build up.

The oral surgeon, Theodore Corcoran, DMD, MD is examining Avah here. He said that although the palate repair looked good she had a "fistula" (aka hole in her palate) that was very small behind her tooth that sets back (that was also where the cleft was). As she grows this hole will get bigger. For now, the main thing we need to do is just take good care of her teeth because "space" will be an issue. We want to take care of the teeth in order to "preserve" the space for the adult teeth that will eventually come in. He also said that when she starts to lose her teeth (around 6 or 7 years old) she will need to get braces and an expander to expand her palate. The fistula will then get bigger so she will then need surgery (a bone graft) to remove bone from her hip to fill the area of her palate.

Here Avah is posing with the Pediatric Dentist, Gary Banaji, DDS, PC and his GIANT toothbrush!

Avah is being seen by the Orthodontist on the team, Deirdre Maull, DMD

Here Avah is meeting with Stephen B. Baker, MD, DDS, one of the plastic surgeons on the team.

Avah had to open her mouth for so many people today and she was a trooper!! I'm so proud of her!! I'm not sure "I" could be as cooperative after being asked so many times to open your mouth and say, Aaaaaa!

This was the sticker I pulled out of the basket for her while we were checking out. So appropriate!!