Obturator

Zane was fitted for an obturator (dental appliance) last week and today he tried it out for the first time. He was hopping mad about us putting it in and out, but once in, he didn't even act like a foreign object was there. It didn't slow him down one bit while he ate. We didn't see any food come out of his nose at lunch, but there was some food colored saliva (green from the green beans he was eating)...hmmmm.... If you could see the obturator, you'd know that it was impossible for any food to come up through the fistula now. The obturator actually goes up into the hole...so why???? We wonder if it came from the back of the palate?? Maybe a learning curve from adjusting to the new appliance or another hole??? There are two other hole-like areas that they don't think are opened all the way to the palate. One is also covered by the obturator but the other isn't....

Then tonight at dinner, we didn't see any food or saliva out of his nose, so.... We are looking forward to seeing how things go tomorrow and thrilled that we didn't have to irrigate and suction food today.

Tomorrow we see the cleft team again for another nose swab. Hopefully we'll have good news after the weekend that the infection is gone. Zane certainly is in better spirits lately -- he just seems like he is feeling a ton better! Sweet, sweet boy!

I took these pictures of the kiddos this morning. Couldn't get them to smile at the same time, so here are both of them....