Post-Op Doctor's Visit

Nina had her post-op doctors visit. She does have a fistula (hole) in her mouth. The doctor was discourage that it was there but not alarmed. It is about 1/2 mm in diameter. It is definitley noticable when her mouth is wide open but her palate is certainly an improvement over what it was a month ago. Right now there are no surgeries planned to close the hole. We will monitor it and the doctor said that is could get smaller or close on its own as her palate continues to heal.
Nina is on the list for the Cleft Clinic that will be in Bozeman at the end of May so she will see the doctor again then.

We don't know how or if this will affect her speech. That is another thing we will have to monitor. Nina will be starting speech therapy in the next week or so. We are deciding on which therapist to go with and she will need an initial evaluation before she can start the therapy. She was accepted into the Early Intervention program and will get therapy twice a week for 30-45 minutes each time.

We are disappointed that a fistula developed, however, we did know that it was a possibility. Hopefully it will not require another surgery, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Nina is not physically affected by the hole at all and remains her happy-go-lucky, cute self! For that we are very grateful!