Kaitlyn's Face Surgery

We have to decide if we're going to do Kaitlyn's face surgery right now or if we're going to wait until she's older. The problem she has is that her maxilla (upper jaw) isn't growing, but her mandible (lower jaw) and forehead are. The result is that the middle part of her face is "sinking" for lack of a better word. She has a pretty serious under bite right now and also has sleep apnea that is caused by a small airway as a result of this problem. We're going to try c-pap to see if it helps the apnea, but I highly doubt we're going to be able to get her to keep the mask on her face all night. She just doesn't seem like the type that will cooperate with that (she's a stubborn little stinker - nothing at all like her mother! He he he he).

They will fix the problem by surgically attaching a device to her head that will attach to her maxilla. This will be cranked forward a few millimeters at a time until it is in the correct position.
The problem with the procedure is that it is very invasive, painful, and will keep her out of school for several months. Here's a picture of the device:



So obviously I can't send her to school while she has the device on. This will kill her because she loves school, but with the problems we had last year I'm not all that upset about homeschooling her for a few months. It may, however, drive me crazy. We'll see.

So we have to decide if we're going to do the surgery now, while she's still young and will hopefully forget all about it, or when she's older and better equipped to handle it mentally. If we don't do the surgery at all the problem will continue to get worse, and she could (and probably would) end up looking like she got punched in the face (along with her sleep apnea getting worse and possibly life threatening).

I hate having to make decisions like this, because I just don't know what the right thing to do is. Part of me can't bear to put my baby through this procedure, and part of me knows it has to be done. I'm talking to her orthodontist right now about the possibility of using a device at night that will prevent her from getting worse until she's older (around 16) and can have a different procedure that is less stressful and more internal (although it's also more painful and more invasive and may not work as well). I haven't heard back from the orthodontist to see what he thinks about it, but that may be an option.

The biggest problem is that she has horrible behavior being attributed to ADHD. We haven't been able to control her ADHD, and now I'm wondering if the behavior is being caused by sleep apnea instead of ADHD. If we can't get her to wear c-pap, or if she's just going to get worse and worse until c-pap doesn't really help her, we'll have to do the surgery no matter what.

Sigh. The things they don't tell you about when you sign up to be a parent...

Family photo

Finally, a family photo showing the best of us!



Ha ha. I kill myself. So here's another photo. Not quite so good of me, but better of everyone else.



But admit it - when you look at family photos, you're only really concerned with how you look.

The Eric Clapton concert, AKA The James Taylor Concert

A while back I posted that I was looking forward to going to the Eric Clapton concert this summer. And I was. I thought it would be awesome to finally see him in person and hear him tell the story of "Tears in Heaven" in person.

However, I actually had bought tickets to the James Taylor concert, since Eric Clapton was coming nowhere near Utah this summer. When I realized the mistake in my post, I decided to just leave it.

Anyway, the concert was great. We've seen him once before, but this time he was much more chatty and he was actually pretty funny. He sang all the classics, plus a few covers of some more recent songs. We had a great time, and it was wonderful to be able to have a date with my husband. Thanks again, Kaylene and Steve, for watching the rugrats, especially when you had to get up early for work the next day!



A picture of us at the concert... the man in the background is our guardian angel. The woman giving Mike the stink eye is our guardian devil.

Camping

We went camping as a family for the 2nd time since Ashton was born. Since our first trip camping was, well - let me just say disastrous, I was very nervous to try it again. But other than nearly getting eaten by a bear, we had a great time!

Ok, ok, so the bear didn't come within 5 miles of us, but it was still a close call. Since I'm going to do several posts today and I don't want my typin' fingers to get tired, I'll spare you the gory details. But if anyone is curious send me an email. It truly is a story to behold.

Evidently the high altitude and resulting lack of oxygen caused Ashton to forget how to dress himself.





After fixing his shirt (it wasn't worth it to fight over the pants), I got this picture of the two of them together. This was a rare, blissful moment of peace and quiet in the middle of the hootenany (how do you spell hootenany? I don't have a clue, although I'm sure some of you will chime in).



My mom came with us, which was a huge blessing because she cleaned, cleaned, cleaned and cooked, cooked, cooked. These are things I'm not particularly good at even when I'm not battling a water pump and propane stove. She made the trip much cleaner and tastier. Oh, and more fun. MOM, LOOK OUT! A BEAR!