3 Months Post-Surgery

Can't believe we've already been home from China for five months...time is flying by. But in other ways, it seems that Lia has been with us forever. I guess she has been, in our hearts.

This week was filled with doctor appointments as she is now three months post palate surgery. Unfortunately, her ENT/Surgeon found a tiny hole (fistula) in the very top of her palate, which will need to be corrected, likely in April, with another surgery. While we weren't thrilled to hear this news, we know that this will be a more minor surgery and we are glad that no other holes have appeared.  According to the surgeon, Lia has a very highly arched palate, and it looks like the repair just didn't hold at the very top of the arch.

We visited the audiology lab today to see how her ears have improved since she received her ear tubes (at the same time she had her palate surgery in October). Before surgery, she was experiencing about 85% hearing loss. We were pleased to learn today that it looks like she is now hearing all tones within the "normal" range, with the possibly exception of some of the lower tones. As the technician pointed out, it's hard to tell with a 2 year old, whether they can't hear the tones or whether they are just tired of cooperating with the tests! Also, the tubes themselves can cause the testing equipment to become confused when measuring the responses of the eardrum. So we will be going back for some additional testing in February.

Lia is a champ and is always so cooperative with the doctors. She lets them stick things in her ears and mouth and really doesn't put up much of a fuss. Here are some photos from the past week:

Letting the doc take a look at her palate

Panda glasses!

Bath time (still afraid of the big tub!)

Hanging out with friends...