The second repair was for speech issues...the varangyl (sp?) flap was insufficient. Basically Dean outgrew his palate. Unfortunately we only had 1 plastic surgeon in our area who did surgeries on pierre-robin babies. We didn't know that Dean had sticklers at the time. When we consulted with the genetics team out of Gainesville, we all thought that he fit the bill for Marshalls perfectly...in fact he and Mackenzie (Tony's daughter) look as though they could be twins. However, in may when Dean had the other operation, the genetics team slipped in the testing so that insurance would pay for the test. I believe that the test costs about 4 or 5 thousand dollars. My husband makes pretty decent money, but with 3 kids and me being a daycare provider (so I could stay close to Dean at all times) coming up with that much
money for a test wasn't going to happen. Especially having to buy hearing aides completely out of pocket and glasses costing so much due to the high prescription strength. We normally pay about $300 for a pair of glasses for Dean. Today I just had to order another pair because both his regular pair and his back up pair keep breaking at the temples. This pair should only cost about $200. I finally started buying discontinued frames at a pretty deep discount...something to keep in mind as James grows older and gets more active.
Congratulations on his first tooth!! I remember those days...awww....
You can take him to a dentist (if you haven't already) and have x-rays done. We just did on Dean and two of his lower teeth buds aren't looking like they are there. His dentist was a bit concerned until I reminded her that they would probably have had to have been pulled eventually anyways for ortho purposes. My dentist is the sweetest lady...I consider her more of a friend than our family dentist.
As Dean has gotten older, we don't have to go to as many doctors appts. and we can actually go to a regular dentist and pediatrician. One thing on Dean that does seem to be starting early is the arthritis. I have noticed his knees and ankles swelling and getting hot on occasion. Dean is a VERY active little boy and has absolutely no idea that there is anything different about him than his friends. He does complain that he is a lot shorter than his buddies at school, but he had to repeat kindergarten this year so now he is the same size. Dean is also very very charming and has more personality than anyone I know...my oldest always says that he is famous. LOL. I'm sure that James will probably be very popular as my Dean is. I am putting some pictures of my kids up for you and everyone else to see.
Mandy
--- On Wed, 10/8/08, Deborah Hatfield <debhat70@...> wrote: From: Deborah Hatfield <debhat70@...> |