Exciting things to come

This all started when we were in hospital in April this year. One morning the doctor looked at Celina and said "but Celina got apneoa". Celina was still sleeping. I asked her what in heaven is apneoa? It is when a person stops breathing for a couple of seconds in their sleep and then starts breathing again. I gave the doctor the whole story that we have a referral letter from the dentist and a report from an ENT to go to Tygerberg dental school for them to have a look at Celina. As far as the ENT explained, from upper lip upwards everything is OK and fine with Celina but from the lower lip downwards seems something not quite right and that is why we have the issues with breathing, eating, swallowing etc. But this happened last year and that is when we had no medical aid that is why we were send to a government hospital. And I pushed it until now to go because it is on the other side of town and we would need to be there at 8 am. And that's no fun driving in Cape Town when everybody tries to get to work.

Anyway she said but now we have medical aid and we are in hospital at the moment so why don't we have a maxillo facial surgeon have a look at her. So I said OK. So she said she will think about who she can ask. 

Well about an hour later this tall Indian looking guy in theatre clothes came to the ward and wanted to speak to me. Dr Hendricks is a maxillo facial surgeon and was asked to have a look at Celina. We chatted away and he had a look at her and gave me different options and said he needs to have scans and x-rays of Celina  to measure and study her lower jaw and to decide what the best method was to help her. What he could say for sure is that her lower jaw is too short and that is why everything is crowded in the back of her mouth. I also told he must be happy with medical aid rates because we have no money to pay extra. He said that he is not about money and I must go google him. Which I did and how amazed I was. He did some really amazing stuff on some people.

A little later the same day we went downstairs to do the x-ray and scan he needed. 

The following day we were discharged. Our Pediatrician still told me that she was still thinking who she could ask when she left the ward the day before and there Dr Hendricks walked towards her in the hall way and she thought "that's it". And she asked him to have a look at Celina and he came straight away upstairs to the children's ward. 

When I brought Celina to bed that night my phone made the sound for what's app message received. When I came back to the room I checked it and it was Dr Hendricks asking me to please call him in the morning. Now I got excited. Had this man already looked at the scans and x-rays?

I called him first thing in the morning. He explained to me that he would want to do something on Celina which is called osteo genesis. He explained everything to me and said he would need a R 3000 from me to make a 3D model on hand of the scan of Celina's jaws and that usually one gets it back from medical aid. They would do the whole procedure on the model first to see what exactly needs to be done and how to reach the perfect result. And see the end result. 

Now my excitement went through the roof. But where in heaven do I get R 3000 from. And since we just have hospital and savings there is very little chance that we would get it back.

Our pediatrician had connected me to an organization who helps children like Celina with appliances they need. I thought this is kind of like an appliance. I send an email to the lady I spoke to already on the phone and explained the situation. A couple of days later she came back to me and said she would pay for it. Wow, this is amazing. God at work.

Next when Celina was back in hospital in May Dr Hendricks secretary gave me a call that he wants to see us. The 3D model was done and everything ready to be explained and shown to us.

Because Clint was off the next day he said we both could come over at 1pm. My excitement got almost to a stage that I couldn't bare it anymore.

The next day we went to our appointment. We saw the 3D model. First of how her jaws look now.
  

This in itself is amazing, that one is able to make a model like that. Now keep in mind that the back teeth(moulders) are closed and the front is by about 1 cm apart.
Now there where the black line is they will cut through the bone on both sides of her mouth but not straight through. They cut diagonal and then a little metal piece that is called distraction tool will be placed over the cut. This thing is bend already in a certain way. 3-5 days after the surgery when the stem cells in that part are being activated they start screwing the distraction tool 1-1.5 mm a day apart. This whole procedure will take about 2 weeks. Where the bone is pulled apart and  a new bone is growing in the gap. After just 2 weeks 2 cm of new bone will have grown in a slight curve.

In the top of the pic one can see the grown bone and how it will look after 2 weeks and bottom is how it is now still.

They say she will just have a bit of swelling on the third day and the Dr said he has a little machine that helps getting the swelling down quicker. Also she is still young and the healing and growing of the bone is probably going faster then with an adult. And obviously she will be kept comfortable with painkillers. 

Dr Vikatos who made the model didn't wanted the money for it and they keeping it back if other costs should come up to cover. Dr Hendricks said he doesn't want us to worry about any costs. Hospital and the surgery and doctors will be covered by medical aid. 

Now the most important and the one to keep the focus on so that one doesn't get too nervous is this: 

The End Result

This is how Celina's mouth is going to look!

If this is not phenomenal and amazing then I don't know anymore. With this the apneoa will be gone. The airways be widened by 2 cm, the tongue will come forward because its attached to the lower jaw, the eating, drinking and swallowing will be much better. She will be able to chew properly and the cherry on top she has a much better chance of starting to speak. Yes I know there might  be pain and there might be swelling but there are means and ways to cope with it and its but for a short time. Looking at the end result and how it will help Celina in the long run to a better quality of life is just the main focus for me. 

The surgery will be about 2 hours and she might have to have a 3 day trachea to make sure her breathing is save.  She has gone worse over the last couple of years and we don't know what would happen in future without this surgery. There is always a potential that she would get worse and one day wouldn't be able to eat or breath anymore and end up with a life long trachea and feeding tube back  in her tummy. 

With this she can make progress. When she can chew and eat properly and use her mouth and tongue properly her mouth will stay in tact. You know how it is when you don't use something, it rusts. If you don't use your legs they get stiff. 

The surgery will be on the 22 June and my great excitement is catching on to a little nervousness as closer as we get to the date. Everything has just fallen into place ever since the pediatrician and myself spoke about this that morning standing at Celina's hospital bed. I firmly believe that there was too much God incidence for it to not be meant to be. 

I will keep sending posts on this blog to keep everybody updated and  also not to be flooded by what's apps while we are in hospital. So please watch out for my posts. 

And most importantly keep praying for us, especially Celina, the doctors, anaesthetists, nurses  and everybody else involved like physios etc. 

Thanks to all who have never stopped praying for us. We really appreciate it. Without prayer we are on our own, with prayer we are surrounded and kept save by our triune God that never leaves us nor forsakes us. And I know He is with us every step of the way. Some of you might remember Celina's hip op the end of December 2012( see the story on this blog starting in 2012). It was a 6 hour surgery. If I look back to it, it was hard work with the spica, both sided cast with a stick in the middle to keep the legs apart. In the end only good memories left and we flew through it. And ever since Celina was free from hip pain. She might have to still go for a hip replacement but that is another story. 

Like always All the Glory and praise and honour and thanks go to our most amazing Almighty God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Without You we wouldn't have survived the last 12 years since Celina's accident. And I see my daughter walking and talking like my amazing God has promised me the very week after her accident. And I still believe and will never ever give up on IT.