Velopharyngeal insufficiency. I'd never heard of it either. But it turns out that is what was causing Tabitha's voice to sound like "The Nanny" (remember that show)? Her speech teacher last year recommended that we have her checked out, so the ENT sent us to the cleft clinic who diagnosed her with this Velo-thingy, and we finally had the surgery this week. In normal-people terms VPI means that the part of the soft palate that's supposed to close off when we talk (preventing air from going out your nose) doesn't do that on Tabitha's. So that's why her voice sounded so nasally.
She had surgery on Tuesday. I'd put it off for awhile basically because it seemed like such a petty thing to have surgery for. Since her last surgery totally rebuilt her uri-gyno-colo-nephro-rectal-ogical system, this seemed kind of silly. It's especially funny how they go over the anesthesia and pre-op questions every time. The first few times it was reassuring. Now it's just humorous. Has she had anesthesia before? Um, yes, at least 9 times on our watch. Has she had any surgeries before? Yes, 8 at last count. Can we explain how the PCA pump works? This was explained by at least 3 different people on Tuesday, even though Tabitha probably could've explained it better herself. Anyway, we made it through all the pre-op stuff. She did great with not being able to eat. Her surgery wasn't until 1:30 pm....I would've been no one to mess with after that long without food! But she was great.
The doctor ended up being able to do a less-invasive version of the surgery than he'd originally planned. That meant she didn't have to stay a night in the ICU, and her healing was much faster and without risks of causing sleep apnea, etc. So we were very thankful for that! Everything went well. She spent one night at the hospital (my turn to stay with her), and other than some nausea Tuesday evening, everything was easy! By Wednesday she was feeling fine and eating fine, so we went home. They gave us a 10-day supply of oxycodone, but by Wednesday afternoon she was feeling fine and hasn't needed it. She has to eat only soft foods for another 10 days, and that'll be it for this round.
Her voice right now sounds stuffy. They said there'd be some swelling, so we think it's mainly due to that. We also think she's going to have to learn how to use her newly-shaped mouth/throat a little differently since she's used to talking through her nose. The sounds you make in the back of the throat (k, g) are a little weird right now. But her overall voice quality is much better already. I feel like, even with the stuffiness, her voice has a more pleasant sound to it. So I'm really glad we did this.
Next, it's onto her Cincinnati urologist to find out what's next in that department. She'll be having some bladder and kidney tests on June 21-22, and hopefully we'll have a plan after that. She's quite a little trooper, that's for sure!
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