On Wednesday Nathan, Elisabeth, & I went up to Primary Children's for a follow up visit with Dr. Albert Park (ENT). He is the one who performed Nathan's jaw surgery and wanted to visit with Nathan to see how well his jaw had healed as well as to check his ears and palates. Nathan's jaw is healing remarkably well; Dr. Park is confident that within the next six months the scars on the sides of his face will turn to a whitish/clear color and will hardly be noticeable. Dr. Park checked Nathan's ears and had to remove a substantial amount of wax with a specialized machine. When he was finally able to see what he wanted to in Nathan's ears, he announced that both ears were filled with fluid and that Nathan is going to need tubes placed. This is not news to Jake or I; when Dr. Park took the distractors off of Nathan's jaw we specifically requested that he place ear tubes in while Nathan was already sedated. He didn't at that time because only one of his ears was filled with fluid. So we have added another surgery to list of things that needs to be completed for poor Nathan. Hopefully, his ears don't become infected until Dr. Smith (another ENT who specialized in cleft repairs) can begin repairing Nathan's soft palate. Due to Nathan's palate problems, fluid can easily enter the Eustachian tube because of the missing palate which will cause serious ear infections and substantial hearing loss if not treated early. Dr. Park stated that if Nathan does get an ear infection, he will put the tubes in earlier than Dr. Smith could. Nathan is not scheduled to have his soft palate repaired until sometime between 9 and 12 months old.
Next Thursday, June 5th, Nathan is schedule for his open heart surgery. As we get closer to that date, each day I become more and more nervous. Fear and Faith cannot reside together as my brother Bill told me. I have tried to remember that these past few months but it is very hard and scary to watch your baby suffer and to not know the final outcome. Please remember Nathan in your prayers!
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1 comment:
Nice history of what is going on with Nathan's ears. You will be glad that you are recording it now lest you forget later. So many things to deal with. Sometimes it seems overwhelming but I appreciate how you keep dealing with things one at a time. You seem to have the strength to do that. I appreciate what Bill has shared with you because it is sooo true.
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