Looks like another surgery...

Miss Sunshine and Daddy Mac made the trip to Shriner's in Chicago for clinic yesterday.  By all reports, Miss Sunshine behaved very well.  Daddy Mac said she especially had fun playing "pull out Daddy's earphones and then insist he put them back in so we can pull them out again" on the plane ride to Chicago.

Most of the clinic visit went well.  Teeth look good, and the dentist doesn't feel that we need to do anything about her frenulum - while it is lower than some children's, it does not seem to be affecting the placement of her teeth, so we are to just keep working with her on brushing her teeth to hopefully eventually desensitize it to the toothbrush.  They did say we certainly had the option to have it clipped if we so desired, but it's not anything that HAS to be done.  We will be doing some more research on our options there - I certainly don't want to put her through another medical procedure if not necessary, but I also don't want this to affect the health of her teeth.

The speech therapist was THRILLED with her progress.  Her speech is right on.  She did say she is slightly nasal, but not anything that they would worry about or that even at this point they would consider another surgery for!  BIG sigh of relief there.  She did, however, inform us that we should NOT have her adenoids removed because that would create issues with the nasality, and if she ever should need a tonsillectomy, we need to have our local doctor coordinate with them prior to surgery so that we don't run in to any issues there.   I never even thought about adenoids affecting the quality of her speech, so that was news to me.

Developmentally she is perfectly on track, which we already knew.  I had no concerns there.  And neither did the child psychologist, apparently.   The plastic surgeon took a quick look in to make sure everything still looks good and pronounced that perfect.

Hearing, well, that did not go so well, but we were anticipating it.  She did pass her hearing test in her left ear. Her right ear, however, tested positive for fluid and for muffled sounds.  Apparently, yet again, the right tube is not functioning and will have to be replaced.  The ENT didn't say much in regard to putting in permanent tubes, which was something I had been wondering over.  This will be the fourth tube in that ear in less than two years.  The tubes she currently has are designed to stay in between 12-18 months.  So far, hers are lasting roughly 6 months.  They will be calling us to schedule the replacement surgery for the right ear and will evaluate her left ear the morning of surgery to see if there are any changes to it again.  Looks like Miss Sunshine and I will be heading back to Chicago sometime soon for yet another procedure!