Another Family from our Travel Group

In our China travel group, there were a total of six families. Three families were adopting non-special needs children. Three of us were adopting children with medical conditions (special needs). All six children adopted were girls. ElleAnna was the oldest (born in March of 2005) with two of the other girls born later in 2005. Two of the little girls had birthdays in 2006 and one was born in 2007. Of the special needs children, one had a hole in her heart that had been surgically repaired but would require follow up. Elle has a repaired cleft lip/palate which will also require monitoring and further surgeries. The other little girl, Tammy, also had cleft lip/palate, but it had not been corrected yet. She was always happy and such a sweet little girl!

Tammy and her new family have been seeing physicians since their return to the states. The doctors have been concerned because her cleft is quite severe and it will require multiple operations to correct. Her first surgery happened last week - to repair her lip and form her nose. She has had a tough time and does not appreciate the discomfort of the arm braces (to keep her from touching her face) or the problems trying to drink from a bottle when she has stints in her nostrils. We hope and pray that her recovery is uncomplicated and speedy. It is wonderful that she has a loving, patient family to help her get through it! I don't know how much her parents will keep up the blog now that they are busy, but here is their site -
http://myadoptionwebsite.com/ourtammy/. We are anxious to see how much she has changed! In about three months, the next steps will be even more difficult, however, because they anticipate it taking at least two surgeries to repair her palate.

Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers. I know how it felt when Alex had his eye surgeries - you felt so helpless. You knew that the things you were doing were right, but it didn't make them much easier. I am glad that he doesn't remember it. I hope that is true for Tammy and also for Elle. I hope neither one of these little girls recall these earlier surgeries. I often wonder how hard Elle's recovery was given that she only had her orphanage family. We imagine what she looked like before her repairs - would we even recognize her if we were to ever see a photo?

Tammy's mother and I have talked about the surgeries our girls will require a few years from now. They will be old enough by then to remember, and to worry, and to fret about the procedures. Even though these now are difficult, the operations still to come will be worse!