Disappointment

We still have Emily's surgery follow-up on Friday, but I already know the outcome.

She still has a hole.

Her speech has been getting worse and worse since the surgery and I suspected things weren't healing quite right. I asked to take a look at her mouth and this is what I saw:

Below is an explanation with arrows (please forgive me if there are mistakes--the surgeons did their work correctly but I may not explain it correctly! ;)). The arrow on the top right is new tissue from the cheek flap that was placed in her first surgery on December 9. This repaired the base of her nasal cavity. All of that healed up nicely! The bottom right arrow is the remainder of the first cheek flap that was also placed December 9. This was supposed to cover the original hole. That part of the repair failed. The left arrow is the buccal flap that was done December 21. That was supposed to cover the remaining hole after the first repair failed. It, too, has failed, as you can see by the circle in the middle of Emily's mouth. Inside that circle is a hole.  

Not that I probably need to say this, because there aren't that many people that read this blog, but these pictures are copyrighted by us and may not be used anywhere else without permission. I felt the need to add that since they are interesting palate pictures and someone might get the idea of using them.

I'll update after her follow-up appointment once I know our next steps.