Operation Smile

Last night the surgeon from New York called, after reviewing the video and photos we sent to him.  We talked for about a half hour and he patiently answered all of our questions (which we miraculously remembered without writing down) and explained both types of procedure - he has done both, and treated Moebius patients before.

This morning his assistant Jeannie called me to set up and appointment for us to take Emma to see him in person.  Long Island is about a three hour drive from here, and our appointment is at 2:45pm so we can head out mid-morning and hopefully be home by bed-time!

Jeannie and I talked about all the insurance stuff and we are going to work together to find out what is/not going to be covered, but she seems confident that most if not all of the procedure would be covered (after the first visit!).

It's so intense, thinking about going ahead with this.  There is no rush - the temporalis transfer is not age dependent, in fact the older patients may be better with the required post-op therapy.  But, potentially, if we went for it, the procedure could be done this summer.  It requires just an overnight stay, and a follow-up visit in a week or so.

I'm not sure if we need to pursue meeting with the other NY doctor (who's team was decidedly unhelpful).  Normally I like to have a couple of opinions, but we already saw our doctor in Philly.

So much to pray and think about!