The End of Rachel's Journey

I started this blog just over 19 years ago. Rachel was days away from turning 2 months old. I started this as a place for people to stay up to date on Rachel's Journey, and hopefully offer encouragement to other cleft affected families behind us on the same journey. And after the events of today, I have come to the realization that we have reached the end of Rachel's Journey. 

Yesterday marked 6 months since Rachel's jaw surgery. We have a 6 month post op appointment the end of next week with Dr. Martin. I think everything is settled on the outside. We'll see what he says next week about the inside. 

Today was the big day! After 3 1/2  years in this current set of braces, Rachel's braces came off!!! We had a mid morning appointment with Dr. Garcia whereas they took everything off, cleaned the glue off, took impressions for a retainer, took a couple X-rays, and took pictures inside and out for record keeping. 

This first picture Rachel took of the Xray shows a perfect side view of her new jaw alignment and the metal hardware that was placed during her jaw repositioning surgery. The second picture is like the one taken last month, except this one is with all the braces and brackets and wires completely gone.

After impressions were taken, Rachel was given a toothbrush to go and brush her teeth. She took this video in the restroom as she saw herself without braces and her new look for the first time. 

After the above checklist was done, we were able to leave for about and hour and a half while her retainer was made. We took a drive up to Oak Glen and went to the candy store and acquired a caramel apple to enjoy this weekend. We then stopped and took some cute pictures of her and her new look. 

Back to the office to get Rachel's retainer. The ortho tech gave Rachel the entire run down of taking care of her retainer, and making sure not to through away on any meal trays, etc. And then Dr. Garcia gave her the news that she only needs to wear the retainers at nighttime!! 

Rachel was given a Starbucks gift card and an appointment for when she's home on Spring Break in March if she feels she needs to have things checked on. We left a gift of homemade Christmas cookies and a thank you note and said our goodbyes. 

We went to dinner at Famous Daves tonight so Rachel could enjoy ribs and corn on the cob!! 

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It's crazy to think that this is the end of Rachel's Journey as far as her cleft journey is concerned. 

There's been some seasons where the journey was quiet, not much going on, just waiting for the next phase of the journey. 

And up until now, there's always been "a next season". But there is nothing left medically to be done. If Rachel chooses, she could have a lip revision or a nose job, but if you ask her today, she's perfectly happy with her new look and doesn't desire to have those things done. 

When Rachel was born, it was overwhelming to think about all that laid ahead of her, and for us as her parents. 

The Lord was with us every step of the way. We saw His hand on so many things through the years. Seeing us through six surgeries related to her birth defect. Countless doctors appointments, orthodontist appointments, finding just the perfect speech therapist that worked one on one with her for years, insurance difficulties and approvals and so much more. And we give Him all the glory!! May Rachel's Journey be a testament to His goodness! 

"For you formed my inward parts; 

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 

Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."

Psalm 139:13-14

Two Months of Braces

Rachel had an orthodontist appointment today. It's been two months since she got her braces on and whoa! what a difference two months has made. This picture really doesn't do it justice, but her two top teeth have straightened out tremendously!! 

The one tooth on the left used to be almost completely sideways, and now it's almost completely straight!

It's been amazing to watch how quickly things are changing in her mouth. Needless to say, she's had quite a bit of pain and discomfort and Motrin is a friend kept close by!

Getting Braces On

Today, Rachel got braces. It's the beginning of a new smile for her. And while she's excited about the end results, she was nervous for this mornings appointment. 

Overall, it went well. There were some tears, both from Rachel and from Mommy. This journey is tough at times. It's hard to see your child upset. 

Her mouth was pretty sore after the appointment. I gave her a dose of Motrin before we even left the parking lot, next time I'll give her a dose before we leave home so it'll be working by the time all the adjusting takes place. Here's hoping the Motrin, and a chocolate chip frappacino from Starbucks kicks in quick!

After the Motrin and Frappacino kicked in, she was all smiles! For now, she has brackets on her front two teeth connected with a wire. She also had bands put on her back teeth that will anchor the additional brackets that will be placed later.  The immediate goal is to straighten those two teeth, and then in a few months, additional brackets will be added to the rest of the top teeth and some more straightening and room made for teeth that need to come down. 

In regards to Rachel's braces, as opposed to Hannah's braces, the progress is going to be noticeable! There's a lot of moving those two teeth have to do. We've learned through Rachel's surgeries that she has a very high tolerance for pain, so we told her if her mouth hurts, she needs to tell us so we can give her something for the pain and discomfort. 

We return to the Orthodontist in 8 weeks. 

Let the Ortho Adventure Begin

Let the Ortho Adventure Begin!

Today we visited Dr. Garcia's office to have impressions made, pictures taken, and spacers put between a few of Rachel's back teeth.

This is Rachel's smile now. Her top two teeth are completely jacked up as a result of her cleft alveolar ridge. We love her no matter what her smile looks like, but we're excited to see how her new smile at the end of this part of the journey. 

An Ortho Consult

Kids can be mean. Kids speak without thinking, truth be told, some adults do the same. We've reached the point in this journey where some kids at school have made fun of Rachel for her teeth and questioned why her teeth are the way they are. Thus, it was time for an orthodontist consult.

After a few phone calls to the office of the Orthodontist we've previously seen at Loma Linda, we  discovered Dr Garcia no longer is accepting patients at Loma Linda School of Dentistry, however, she did have a private practice. 

I called and got an appointment for today. The office is a bit of a drive, but I'm willing to drive to the ends of the earth to get the best possible care when it comes to Rachel and anything to do with her birth defect, especially since Dr. Garcia specializes in cleft children. 

After chatting a bit, and taking an Xray, Dr. Garcia turned to talk to Rachel. She asked Rachel what she would like for her to do, and Rachel broke down in tears asking Dr. G to fix her teeth. :(

And thus that is the plan. We will come back in a few weeks for spacers, and then a week later for braces. These braces will be on about 8-10 months and by the end of this Phase I, her smile will once again look completely different...

Orthodontist Consult

Children born with clefts usually require lots of orthodontia, which for Rachel, is the next leg of her journey. 

Rachel has a permanent tooth that is crooked, and we really just needed some direction for the future. So I made an appointment recently to see an orthodontist known in our area for her expertise in treating kids with clefts. 

After some X-rays, and a peek inside, the Orthodontist sat down with me and showed me Rachel's xray and penciled in what teeth she has in, waiting to come in, ones to watch, etc.

After much discussion we found it best to continue to watch a couple of teeth, and wait until she's a few years older before braces.

A set of braces prior to the next BIG surgery, which is a jaw realignment, are very important. That set of braces will straighten out all the teeth and align everything perfectly in anticipation for surgery.

Dr Garcia was a huge help, and told us not only can we check back in every summer (once a year consults are free) or as our regular dentist takes X-rays, I'm welcome to bring them in for her review so we can be ready when the time comes!

Dentist Appointment

Rachel saw the dentist today and everything checked out just perfectly! No cavities!!! Yippeee! She did just fine through the cleaning and even survived the nasty fluoride treatment. We also got the x-rays needed of Rachel's mouth in preparation for her surgery in November.

Orthodontic Growing Pains

Off and on over the last couple of months, Rachel has been complaining that her tooth hurst. Her front top tooth is the one she always points to. We'd looked in there and kinda came to the conclusion that her 'funky tooth' as we affectionately call it, the tooth that is sideways in her cleft aveolar ridge (her gum) was moving down and pressing on her good tooth.

I took her to our pediatric dentist on Tuesday and she checked her over - no cavities, no visible problems. She took an Xray which showed her jacked up upper teeth, but nothing that really jumped out.

Our dentist emailed her Xray to an orthodontist to look over and his conclusion was that she has so many issues where her cleft is, that more than likely the pain she is experiencing is growing pains in the area of all the movement and change. Our plan is to keep an eye on it as there really isn't anything that can be done right now orthodontically.