prayers for seth

tomorrow my little brother is having surgery.

seth was born with a cleft lip and palate-a condition where a babys mouth doesnt fully form, creating a gap through the lip and upper jaw, and leaving an open hole where the roof of his mouth should be.

he had a million surgeries when he was a baby but hasnt needed one since he was about 8.  he has always been so brave and as his big sister, i always thought he was perfect the way he was even without surgery.

all of his surgeries have gone fabulously, and we have been so blessed to have such caring and capable doctors and surgeons who have loved him and performed the surgeries with excellent skill.  tomorrow will hopefully be no different.

basically, the procedure is meant to adjust his mouth for his growth.  seth is 16 years old now so its totally understandable that he needs some growing room!  the surgeries that they did on the roof of his mouth has created alot of scar tissue that doesnt grow and the tension is causing the roof of his mouth to collapse and in the process is pulling his teeth inwards.  but for the retainer he wears with a fake tooth on it, his teeth and mouth would have been in far worse condition.

the procedure is super scary for us-they basically cut open his top jaw down the middle, put in an expander to hold the jaw apart, and stitch the skin closed, leaving a gap in the cut bone over the roof of his mouth.  over the following 8 weeks, the drs hope the bone with heal itself and form the bridge between the two ends, giving seth a wider upper jaw and room for him to grow.  if the bone doesnt grow on its ow, he will need to have a bone graft to help the bone marrow grow, and recovery is another 8 weeks.

please please please keep him in your prayers.  please pray that the doctors have sure hands, and that his body will recover quickly.  he is such a stud-so brave and strong and i admire him so much for choosing to have this sooner rather than later, and confronting his fears head on.