JSQ's Adoption Blog

As you can see, Violet went to sleep last night terribly concerned about her upcoming appointment at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock.

Last night marked the first night that Violet really slept completely through the night. It still isn't the full night's sleep like she was getting in China, but we're getting close.

The big event of the day, though, was the trip to Little Rock to see Dr. Lisa Buckmiller's Cleft Team at ACH. In our research, Dr. Buckmiller comes highly recommended in the adoption community, and Little Rock has the added benefit of being nearby Shannon's Aunt and Uncle, Peggy and Jim, as well as her cousin Timpy's family. Timpy even works at ACH as a nurse so it seems like a great fit.

The day couldn't have gone much better except for a whole lot less whining during the 4 hour drive. We met the Kings and Timpy at the ACH cafeteria for lunch prior to our appointment. The Kings then took Quentin and Timpy's daughter Skylar back to their house for the afternoon while we took Violet to her appointments.

The first appointment was with the audiologist. After last week's appointment with our pediatrician, we fully expected crying every time someone approached Violet. Oddly enough, Vi was smiling up a storm and generally having a blast. The truly great news was that her hearing appears to be unaffected even though she seems to have had some pretty severe infections in her life. The test results will, however, sentence her to her first set of ear tubes.

The second appointment was with Dr. Buckmiller and her staff. According to Dr. Buckmiller, Vi will likely need 4-5 surgeries minimum over the course of the next 8 years (2 within the next 12-18 months). Again, Vi surprised us by being happy with everything being done except for being weighed. That was the same thing that set her off last week so maybe scales in China bite????

The true surprise came when Dr. Buckmiller said, "How about Monday," when trying to schedule surgery. *cough...gasp* She explained that she was scheduling for June right now, and she didn't feel like Vi should wait. Because of a cancellation and schedule change for next week, she had time on Monday. So, we're taking it. Vi will have her cleft palate surgery on Monday.

Once we got back to the Kings', the kids had some fun playing around the house while Shannon and I wandered around a bit bewildered at returning to Little Rock on Sunday. Thanks to Peggy and Jim for taking care of Q and offering to provide us a place to stay during Vi's surgery.