This weekend, we went to Little Rock for three days. The reason for our trip was for Khloe's Pre-Op scope testing with the great doctors of Arkansas Children's Hospital. They are the best in the country... and it sure shows! Khloe has had difficulty pronouncing some of her sounds and letters, since she began talking. She has been in speech classes at two different facilities for almost 2 years now. Occasionally, she has had problems with her liquids that she drinks coming out of her nose after swallowing (since she was born and still persists today). I knew there was an internal issue pretty much early on when her speech wasn't right on. She went to see an ENT doctor in our hometown, but they said they don't really fix the problem or begin to look at it until the children are at least 4 years old or older (and of course, she had just turned 2 years old at that time). So, of course, I did not want to wait that long, because I didn't want her to create bad habits in her speech while waiting. I then consulted with Arkansas Children's Hospital and their doctors (after getting a referral from both Khloe's speech teachers).
Khloe completed her scope testing at ACH this weekend... she was quite the trooper. They had to numb her nose and stick a speghetti noodle type tool with a camera on the end of it in her left nostril (ALL the way in). They wanted to see which muscles in her nose were not closing properly when she spoke and swallowed. We already knew (from previous testing with the ACH doctors) that Khloe had a form of Cleft pallet (though not physically noticable because it is internal not external), called VPI Cleft. The scope identified the positioning of the muscles in the pallet. They are facing completely sideways and do not close completely... when they should be tilted forward (more angled) and touching. The camera clearly showed it working but not working the way it should work. So, the doctor is going to have to cut the muscles in the back of the pallet and reposition and sew shut. It will consist of a 3+ hours surgery at ACH. She will have to stay overnight at the hospital in recovery and full recovery will take 3+ weeks (for full recovery). Her surgery is scheduled for April. Poor baby girl! I would appreciate all your prayers... as she is going to need it during this tough time. We will have to blend her foods for several weeks after her surgery (so she can eat only mush). She is not going to be a happy girl! :(
Here is my sweet little girl the day of her scope testing (on her way to ACH), looking all cute!
(See the previous blog posts for what our weekend activities were in Little Rock during our stay!!)
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