Today we travel to Duke University to meet with the cleft team. The waiting room is actually the main attraction for Jonathan and Mia. Jonathan is now 8 years old and has been in the palate expansion phase since September of last year. He has his second expander in currently. We are encouraged by the progress he is making, though it is slower than we originally expected. If all goes well with the expander we are planning on having his bone graft surgery in early December of this year.
Mia is now 5 years old and today we met with most wonderful SLP. Duke was in the process of getting a new SLP last year when we were here. Well they found a good one! After being to Duke last year and to UVA twice this past year, finally someone agreed to complete a videoscopy on Mia. It has been my inclination since we met her in China that her palate was too short. She has struggled to make any sounds other than the vowel sounds and nasal consonants. She did wonderful with the procedure. Princess Mia sat upon her thrown and was quite excited to have her picture taken and to be able to see her nose on the video monitor. The only moment I could see her a bit troubled was when they brought a group of students in to watch the procedure. However, the SLP was wonderful and able to get her to do everything they needed. Once completed the doctors looked at each other and agreed that her palate was too short - no discussion needed. She wasn't even getting closure when she swallowed. We will go back in July to discuss what our next step will be.
