Some recent pictures....

It's been a while.....

I am so sorry that I have been a bad blogger. So many things have been going on with our family that I just haven't had the time. It's a Sunday and the clothes are washed, grocery shopping done, clean house, spent time with the family, every things done so now that I have some time to spare I have no excuse!

Let's see where to begin.... Since Devany's last surgery she has recovered so well that the doctors were very impressed! We went to UCLA for one of her semi-annual Craniofacial appointments. I love these appointments because it's a time where all the specialists come and evaluate her in one session! It's pretty awesome! The plastic surgery team said that they were extremely happy with the way her eye looks and that she has hard bone growing under her eye! They want to do another surgery in the next month or so. I was a bit shocked and my heart felt heavy for Dev because it seems like she just got over her last surgery, but the doctors said that this one would be a minor surgery, in and out in the same day. They want to do a fat graft under her left eye to stretch the skin out more and to give her cheek some puffiness. So, I am okay with that, They said that after everything that she has been through, this one will be like a walk in the park for her. The speech therapist recommended that she have a speech evaluation soon. Before she is 3, so we will be going to the Richardson Center here in Bakersfield on Monday. The dentists said that we definitely need to have her seen soon. We have an appointment for that at UCLA on the 30th of this month. I'll let you know how that goes, we have our fingers crossed that she'll let them look inside her mouth. We've been practicing. The eye doctor said that they would like to do another eye exam while she's sedated for her next surgery. I feel like I am forgetting someone.... Hmm, i'll re post if I remember. So many things all at once.

We will be very busy for the next couple of months so if you'd like more info on Dev just email me and I will probably get back to you sooner than on blogger. Take care friends!

Surgery Pictures

Update on Devany's Surgery!

First of all, I would like to apologize for not blogging sooner. I know some of you have been waiting to hear from us and how Devany has been doing. We have so been so busy getting things back to "normal" and have been just so tired from all the stress of everyday life! Well, starting from the beginning.... We went to UCLA on the 28th of March to have her admitted at 8 am. She then went down to get prepped for surgery and was supposed to go to the operating room by 10 am. Not so much the case. We waited and waited until about 1 pm and the doctors finally came by along with the anesthesiologist. They gave her a med that would help her to "relax" so the separation anxiety wouldn't be so hard for her when they took her for surgery. I wish they could've given me some too. LOL. Well, we waited a few minutes for the med to kick in and we could really tell when it did. Poor baby, she seemed really out of it. Well they explained the procedure one more time to us and had us sign all the consents. I think at that moment is when it really hit me. They then took her from us and we walked with them to the doors of the O.R. and we gave her kisses and told her that we'd be waiting for her and that we'd see her as soon as they said it'd be okay. It brought me great comfort when Dr. Bradley walked by us as he was going to the O.R. and told us not to worry and that he was going to take great care of her. After shedding a few tears we headed back upstairs to the Surgical Waiting area. We checked in with the woman at the desk and began the dreadful waiting period. We waited for what must have seemed like forever. We got a bite to eat and was on the computer, (thanks Uncle Jun for letting us use your lap top!) trying to make the time go by a little faster. The phone at the waiting area's desk rang and they said that it was for us. That made me extremely nervous because they never call us, Dr. Bradley usually just comes out to tell us that everything went okay. So when I got on the phone, he told me that everything went well, they had no complications and that he called because they were still in the O.R. cleaning her up and getting her situated to go to the Recovery area and he just wanted to let us know that everything went well. It was such a relief that my baby was okay. Now we have to prepare ourselves for the after care. So they tell us that one of us can go down to see her so Henry let me go first because he knew how anxious I was to see her. I went down to the recovery area and when I walked in the double doors I could hear her crying. Hearing her cry the way she did I could tell that she was in so much pain. She had a patch over her eye and a whole gauze (they call it dressing) over her head, almost like a burn victim would wear. I walked up to her where there were 2 nurses there one doing her vitals and the other holding an oxygen mask to her face trying to console her. I went to her said and said "Devany mommy's here" and she stopped crying for one second to say "momma" and tried to pull me towards her. I asked the nurses if I could hold her and they said of course! I held her and she stopped crying. They gave her some Morphine for the pain and they said that it was okay for Henry to come and see her too. We stayed in the recovery are for about 2 hours and then they transferred her to he Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. She stayed there over night and the next day the doctors came around and said that it was okay for her to step down to the Children's Hospital. They said that she could be on a clear soft diet when she felt like eating. At that point she wasn't very interested in eating, I think she was still in too much pain. So Saturday afternoon she gets transferred to the Mattel Children's Hospital also located in the UCLA medical center. The nurses there were great. They kept offering us things to drink, eat and asked us if there was anything we needed for Devany. Saturday night Devany got a surprise visit from her cousins Marlie and Aubrey and her Aunt and Uncle, Leslie and Mark, and Auntie Anna! I think that totally lifted her spirits! She got up and out of bed, drank some juice and went walking down the halls of the children's floor. Thanks Marlie for pulling Dev's I.V stand along! :) Devany watched cartoons for a while with her cousins and then got a bit sleepy. We put her down and she fell asleep. Sunday morning Devany was almost back to her normal self and was more than ready to go home. She was jumping around in her bed and was getting a bit irritated with the nurses touching her. The doctor came around and said that if we could get her to eat some food then she could go home the next day. I don't know if she understood what they were talking about but that day she ate a bowl of soup, 2 Popsicles and drank 2 juice boxes! We were so proud of her! So, Monday morning the doctor writes her discharge papers, and we head home. The aftercare for this surgery wasn't too bad. All we had to do was make sure that the sutures didn't get wet or infected, give her the antibiotics and change the gauze on her eye. She wasn't in much pain at all at home. She is eating regularly and is back to running around being Devany! Today we went back to the UCLA medical center for her post0op follow up and they removed the remaining stitches and just took a look. Devany threw a fit! She really doesn't want anyone touching her eye. Dr. Bradley said that he is very pleased how well she is healing and that the swelling should be going down soon. He wants us to see an Opthamologist in Long Beach named Dr. Choi. He specializes in patients with Cranofacial defects. So we will be heading in that direction soon. Devany no longer needs to wear the patch over her eye. It looks a bit swollen and bruised but it's healing very nicely! We are so thankful for Dr. Bradley and the whole team that he has working with him, also for the wonderful nurses that take such good care of our baby while she's there! I will be posting some pictures soon, when I figure out what I did wrong because it won't let me upload them. Thank you to everyone who has kept us in their prayers and have offered services to us! We love you all and are very thankful that we have people like you in our lives!

Devany's Surgery

So we've received confirmation on Devany's surgery for March 28th at 7:30 a.m. we need to be there by 5:30 a.m. The procedure that they will be doing is a Orbital Floor Grafting, ZMC Repositioning, and a Fat Transfer to her face. *sigh* It all sounds like alot but in real terms what they are doing is lifting her left eye to be level with her right eye, they will be transferring some fat from her body to her face since her left cheek is alot more depressed than the right. Her hospital stay will vary depending on how quickly she recovers from surgery. Those of you that know our Dev, she is a tough little girl and i'm sure she'll bounce right back! This surgery is especially hard for Henry and I because with her last surgery we had a bit of a scare after surgery in the recovery area. I thought that after a few procedures we'd get the hang of it. But it doesn't get any easier. Thank you to all of our family, and friends that stay by our side and care for Devany so much! So we'll keep you posted and look for more updates on her surgery here or on our MySpace page!

Our Visit to L.A.

On Jan.17th Devany had one of her pre-op appts. with Dr. Bradley at UCLA. We discussed what he'll do on her next surgery and when he'll do it. As of now it's set for March 28th. It seems so soon, maybe just for us. It was a very nice visit. Dr. Bradley had a Christmas present that he saved for Devany! It was a HUGE water playtable! As soon as she saw it her eyes lit up and she said "water"? We laughed and thanked them. We are so grateful for the whole team of doctors that work with Devany at UCLA! After her appt. we went to Starbucks to meet with a new friend for the first time! I met Jen & Jordan in a Cleft group and we got to meet with them for a bit that day! Her kids are too cute, and well behaved. They were so good while Dev was very cranky, she was ready for a nap! I hope we can meet with them again soon! Well, after that we went to meet with Khrystyne! I miss her so much! I haven't seen her for such a long time, it's been years! We had lunch, and talked, and talked, and talked some more! It was fun! I will try to be a better blogger if you guys promise to post comments. (thanks Jen) :) Make it worth the while.... Well here are some pictures from our long day! We'll keep you all posted with Devany's surgery!

"Thanksgiving"

Hello everyone! We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Our was VERY filling! We spent the day at Mark & Leslie's new house. She is such a great cook, the food was delicious! It was nice for us all to be together again, even if it was only for a few hours. We rested for a while had some dessert, and thought our plan through for some crazy early morning shopping on "black friday". People say that we're crazy for wanting to be all crowded and wait in long lines but, I think it's probably one of my favorite days of the year! We did have a bad experience at target which I will save to tell until after Christmas. But put it this way, I will NOT be shopping at Target for the rest of this holiday season, and maybe never again at that location! Whew.... Venting feels good! Anywho.... We hope everyone enjoys this holiday season! Don't forget to leave your comment, we love reading them. More pics on the way.....