A bit of background first.......
My daughter is 3 years old and was born with a genetic congenital condition affecting the growth of her facial bones.
I suffer from the same condition and both of us have had many previous surgeries to correct it.
At a routine appointment last week, a new surgeon recommended that my daughter have surgery on her mouth as her speech is very poor despite intensive speech therapy.
A previous (equally qualified) surgeon a few months ago said that the issue with her speech can be corrected with therapy, but it may take years. Also, there is a chance the therapy may not work and she will need surgery in the future.
No one can agree! I usually go with whatever the surgeon recommends, but because two of them are disagreeing, they are asking us (husband and I) to make the decision.
My husband is deferring to me with regards to what we do. Given that I suffer from the same condition as my daughter, he thinks I am the best one to decide!
What do I decide? Both of these surgeons are specialists. There is no option for a second opinion.
The surgeon who has advised the surgery has said she will repair another part of my daughters face at the same time, so that it isn't considered a 'waste of time if it doesn't work'.
The only downside to the surgery is that it may not work. So my daughter may just end up no worse than she was before, but with the added bonus of having another part of her face repaired.
The surgery will take about 6 hours, but will increase to 8 hours to do the additional surgery.
They want us to make the final decision, and my husbands reluctance to decide means it is my decision.
Please tell me what you would do if it was your child??