I've been meaning to give an update on the appointments Malia and Jackson had shortly before Christmas at the Cleft Clinic They both had their appointments on the same day, which was awesome, but it made for a very long day with lots of information being sent my way.
Our appointment was from 9am till 2pm. We spent the entire time in this little room...except for a few bathroom breaks and a quick dash to Starbucks.
Thankfully, I already knew what to expect so we were prepared. I had packed a lunch and brought books, coloring books, markers and a few toys. Usually we wait in the waiting room for all the various doctors. The waiting room has toys for the kids to play with. This time was different. All the doctors came to see us in this room...and what a relief! Both Malia and Jackson saw the ENT Specialist, Pediatrician, Dentist, and Speech Pathologist. Malia also had some X rays done and met with the Plastic Surgeon, and Orthodontist.
The longest wait time was about half an hour. The rest of the time we only had a few minutes to eat before another doctor met with us. In fact the kids ate their lunch while I was chatting with the Pediatrician!
Jackson will be having surgery on his right ear at the end of this month. This is a day surgery where the ENT will be narrowing the excessively large hole in Jackson's ear. This damage was caused from having too many untreated ear infections prior to arriving home. Hopefully this will help his hearing improve, which should help his speech improve.
Malia will have 2 surgeries in February. The first one will be to do a graft to cover the fistula in the roof of her mouth. Originally the idea was to do a tongue graft, but our surgeon has decided a cheek graft is a better option. I'm so thankful for that! Basically what will happen is the surgeon will take a narrow, rope like graft from the inside of Malia's cheek and use it to cover the hole. The rope like graft will remain attached to the inside cheek for 3 weeks to ensure a good graft. At 3 weeks, Malia will have another surgery to simply sever this. At this point we are being told to expect anywhere from a 1-5 day hospital stay for each surgery. It depends on how things go. My guess is that the first surgery will require a longer in hospital stay and the second a day.
At this point neither of our kids are aware that they will be having surgery. It causes WAY too much stress for them to know too far in advance. We will likely tell them several days in advance, so please DO NOT talk to them about their upcoming surgeries. Thanks in advance.
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