It’s surgery day

This morning Sawyer is having his cleft lip surgery. He had a surgery a year ago in China, but it was unsuccessful for reasons that aren’t clear. He likely got an infection and wasn’t treated properly or in a timely way, and his lip opened up again. It makes me so sad to think he didn’t have a family to take care of him after his first surgery. The people at the orphanage told us that “he cried too much” after the surgery and that’s why his lip opened up. So heartbreaking.

I took these pictures yesterday as he and Jack ran around and played outside, his favorite place to be.

Sawyer loves to give hugs, and he gives little pats on your back that just make you melt. He is a sweetheart. He is having surgery at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center and is receiving the best care possible. It is an outpatient surgery and the doctors are optimistic that his recovery will go well. The surgeon will pull together the muscles above his lip to close the gap, and he’ll create a top lip for Sawyer. In about three months, he will have another surgery to repair his palate (the roof of his mouth), which is a bit more involved.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for our brave little guy! He is teaching us so much about resilience and joy in the midst of pain. I am so proud to be his mama!