Tristen's Previous Surgeries 2006 - 2008
Tristen was born with a condition called craniosynostosis, which is where skull plates prematurely fuse together. Her right front skull plate was not only fused, but also too small, and was picnching the dura (brain covering) on her right side. What should have been one surgery has now become 7 as she has faced many complications including complete deterioration of her right front plate, rejection of synthetic bone, plastic surgery to rebuild her eyebrow bone on her right side, and placement of a titanium plate to protect her skull. Surgery #7 will be to repair this plate, as it has slipped forward and will soon protrude through her scalp.
Tristen's Testimony
I am here to give Tristen’s testimony…mostly because she, being 3 can not speak it herself. However, what is so amazing is that she, being 3 can speak as much as she does. Tristen’s first CT scan indicated that she had an “abnormally small” corpus callosum. This condition affects speech development. In the beginning we had no idea how severe her delay would be and doctors suggested we begin learning sign language and work with a speech therapist. Progress was slow, but Tristen can now communicate with words, sentences, or signs….she can get her point across, in her time…which just happen to be in God’s time. You see, just after her 6th surgery we became a foster care/adoptive family. And we have had the privilege of adding 3 beautiful daughters to our family. Our two teenagers came to us with a lot of heartache and pain in their pasts - and with a lot of labels given to them by various workers etc. As a mom of 4 small children, it was a struggle to not be anxious over what they could bring into our home. And as skeptical as I was of them so were they of us. Did they really want to attach to a family after being let down in the past? Should they just wait it out until 18 and walk away? But, where I saw stress, to Tristen, someone had just dropped off another big sister who was supposed to love her and spoil her. And, with a loving heart, she did not care what clothes they wore, who their friends were, what their grades were, or what kind of problems they had, she just chose to love them. Really truly love them, and let them know they were loved. It was Tristen’s voice, words that came out of her mouth, words that we weren’t sure she would ever speak, that probably softened them the most. Because when she runs around the house looking, saying “Where’s my Meggie?”, or “Cha-Cha you watch shortcake with me?” they know without a doubt they are loved, needed, and wanted. She had been instrumental in bring about wonderful changes in these girls lives. And I know, even if she were to be called home, she has done more to complete her ministry in her 3 short years than many of us have in our lifetimes.
