Gracie was in for a visit this month for her latest laser treatment and to check the healing from her last bolster. Gracie, you may remember from a previous post, has an ulcerated hemangioma and anotia. She has a total of 6 surgeries to date here at the Little Baby Face Foundation.
We love having Gracie here with us because she is such a joyful and energetic little girl, always coming out with the funniest, well-timed one liners. Her mom told us during their time in the office that the feeling is mutual, that Gracie looks forward to coming to New York City for her treatments each time and especially loves Dr. Waner. “He’s actually my favorite!” Gracie specified.
Gracie has just graduated from kindergarten to first grade. Her favorite things about kindergarten were recess and her teacher. We celebrated her graduation with a little gift bag with some treasures a treats—a unicorn slap bracelet (Gracie loves unicorns), stickers, fruit snacks, etc. Gracie was in great spirits, as usual. She’s so happy to be able to use a spoon and fork, eat a tootsie pop, blow bubbles—all things she wasn’t able to do before surgery to untether her mouth.
She has had laser treatments at each of her 6 visits here, and she handles them very well. Her mom says she was even able to play afterwards. “An hour and half after recovery—I’m ready to go to Toys R Us now!” On this visit to NYC, Gracie went to the Queens zoo and Toys R Us, as she requested, running into Mickey and Minnie on the way.
During this visit, we also went over the next step in Gracie’s treatment plan. As Dr. Waner explained everything carefully to Gracie’s mom, Gracie played with some sparkly pink slime, completely unfazed. She gave Dr. Waner a card with socks. “And you can keep it!” she exclaimed joyfully.
This next surgery will be an island flap. This involves sewing the upper lip to the lower lip, where it will stay attached for 8 days until it has established a blood supply. Then, we will cut the lips apart again, but higher up, giving her some bulk on the lower lip. We are essentially taking some of her upper lip in order to build her lower lip.
We watched as Gracie’s mom explained the surgery to her gently, in terms that would sense to a 6-year-old. Gracie’s mouth will be closed shut for 8 days, and she will have to eat from her G-tube during this time. Gracie is accustomed to surgeries and issues with her jaw, an unfortunate reality. Their conversation was casual, as if her mom was saying they’d need to skip the playground, and Gracie was only minorly disappointed. “But what if I’m hungry?” she asked. “That’s why we’ve got the G-tube, and you just tell Mommy when you want to eat.” Gracie quickly accepted that answer and moved on to the next thing, ordering her mom to follow her out of the room. This glimpse into Gracie’s world is so telling. She is so resilient and lives entirely in the moment.
Dr. Waner will perform Gracie’s island flap surgery in July. We will be posting updates on social media regarding her recovery and progress using the hashtag #gracielbff so be sure to follow along!
