Hi everyone ,
Avas about 6 weeks post op since her surgery January 31st. She’s done so well recovering and tolerating the pain quite incredibly. She had a posterior pharyngeal flap which is where they grafted a chunk of the bottom of her throat and used it on her palate. So essentially her entire top and back of throat was all cut open and had stitches.
At 10 days post op, a section in the back of her throat had opened up, which gave us quite a scare.. we’ve encountered a major dehiscence with Ava after her anoplasty surgery which haunted us. When we noticed this opening, we immediately called her surgeon and Pediatrician and they said to come to Edmonton to have it looked at. Ava and I drove while Landon and Charlie stayed back. I must note- travelling with Avas pureed diet was not easy and definately challenging. As the only thing we could order at a drive thru was essentially smoothies. But we packed as much as we could and got through 🙏🏼. When we got to Edmonton, we were fortunate that the opening in her stitches was superficial , meaning that it was quite close to the surface and the stitches behind it were still intact and already starting to heal 🙏🏼. We were to monitor closely and continue with her pureed soft diet.
On march 1, we went for her 4 week follow up and everything went well. Avas throat is healing very well and that opening we seen couple weeks prior closed on its own 🙏🏼. Ava has been cleared to resume her normal diet and activities 🙏🏼. She was so excited to get a cheese burger haha. She’s been back at school and enjoying being back with her friends.
The surgeon said that we may not notice a difference in the sounds from her speech till 3-6 months. We have started speech therapy at school everyday and at also at home. We are in the rehab stage which will just take time. We go back to Edmonton mid April to see the surgeon and also the SLP Loredana who specializes in palate surgery.
Thank you to everyone who has reached out asking how Ava and us have been doing ❤️ it means the world to us ❤️
Ava's Adventure 