Rachel's Journey: Where Are We Now?

It's been two years since I've written anything here. Rachel's Journey has been a quiet journey the last 8 years since her Bone Graft surgery, with the exception of her having braces, and now in the last year, retainer checks.

We are thankful for the quietness. Thankful for the once every six to nine months trips to the Orthodontist. Thankful for nothing big. Thankful for nothing out of the ordinary.

When Rachel was little, we had a rough idea of what her journey looked like. Lip repair, palate repair, bone graft/aveolar ridge repair, under bite repair.

After her lip and palate repair, we knew the next big thing was her bone graft, which wouldn't come until she was 5 or 6 years old.

After her bone graft and aveolar ridge repair, we knew the next big thing was her under bite repair, which wouldn't come until she was 16 or 17. Well guess what, Rachel is now 15 years old and that girl has a plan.

It is Rachel's desire/plan to have her next big surgery the beginning of next summer (June 2020) so that she could recover over summer break, and get her second phase of braces on. And then ultimately get her braces off in time to go off to college in the Fall of 2022.

Knowing that it can sometimes take a while to get in to see doctors, I called two months ago to get an appointment with her cleft specialist orthodontist. We saw Dr. Garcia this afternoon.

As far as the next surgery, Dr. Garcia is on board. From an orthodontia standpoint, Rachel's ready. The concern is if Rachel is slowing down in her growing. They cannot do the next surgery until she's slowed down or stopped growing. And if you've watched Rachel the last year, she's been growing!

So the next step is an appointment with Rachel's plastic surgeon. He will determine if she's ready for the next surgery, or if we need to wait a while until she shows evidence of slowing down on growing.

I came straight home and called Dr. Martin's office, thinking in the back of my head we probably wouldn't get an appointment until after the first of the year, I was shocked when he had numerous afternoon openings for a week from Monday. A WEEK FROM THIS MONDAY!!!

So that's where we are at this point. We see the plastic surgeon on November 11th and then we'll go from there.

Whether Dr. Martin thinks Rachel's ready physically for the next surgery, or whether he thinks we need to wait a while longer for her growing to slow/stop, we know that no matter what, despite the fact that Rachel has a plan, this will all be done in HIS perfect timing.