Pre Op visit- part 2

First of all, I guess I had better explain what type of cleft Sera has, so that those reading, who have not followed Sera from the start can understand why we are at Shriner's. We have a great Children's hospital just over an hour from home. We are traveling all the way to Chicago for a good reason. Sera does not just have a cleft lip and palate, she has a Tessier 4 cleft. (Craniofacial clefts are rare among facial anomalies, with an incidence of 1.5 to 5 per 100,000 births, and 1 per 100 cases of cleft lip and palate. The Tessier No. 4 oro-ocular cleft is one of the rarest, with 33 unilateral and bilateral clefts reported in the literature. Among the bilateral clefts only 3 of 9 involved Tessier No. 4 cleft bilaterally.) I was told that Shriner's would have the most experience with this type of cleft repair and would also be able to follow her for complications should anythng come up. So far they are everything I had been told. they have just been wonderful with her and have not treated her like an oddity for everyone to come examine, while leaving her feeling like a circus exhibit. They have treated her like a princess and I feel very comfortable having her in their care. It will be well worth all the travel time!

Well, it wasn't easy waking int the am after such a late night, but yet it was, since I woke at 5 am and could not go back to sleep. I was so tired, but couldn't fight routine. Our room was facing the street and I kept listening to the traffic and then going to look! I love different sights and sounds. I really enjoyed watching all the dog walkers. Not just folks walking their own dog, but actual dog walkers. There must be lots of dogs in the apartment complexes around the Inn. It was so nice to be able to fix a cup of tea and just sit by the window and watch life go by.

Sera slept peacefully until 8 am when I woke her and sang Happy Birthday to her. She was all smiles and very excited to put on her new birthday cake dress and tiara. We ate in the room, since I had brought oatmeal and we had left over pizza. She was excited to got downstairs and explore, but not so happy to get in a cab to go to the hospital. In fact she refused to even get out of the cab until I distracted her with a fish statue in the lobby.

The hospital staff were so sweet to her and really helped ease her fears. We met with the doctors and found out that Sera will have a lip revision and a bone graft into her jaw, from her ribs. They are not going to work on her sinuses or cheekbones yet. In fact she will have to go back for another lip revision in about 8 months, since her lip repair will not be able to be done in just one step. We will have to gt another CT scan this week and have some other pre op things done, like put her on preventative antibiotics, since she has a cough. With waiting this long for surgery, we don't want to have to reschedule it ! :-)

BTW, once again I was told that she should have been receiving speech therapy at school... The SLP laughed when I told her the reasons I had ben given as to why they could not do anything for her until her lip was repaired. I was told that it is only because they do not know what to do that I was given these reasons... How is a parent supposed to make decisions and know what to fight for or how with two such strongly opposing opinions!? Especially since I also work for the same school district! When school starts, she will be in contact ith the new SLP at our school and try to help. I wish she had done more of this before now though!

Sera was so totally spoiled by the staff there because it was her birthday, I think she will want to go there every year for her birthday! She raked in a new HMontanna backpack, and Ariel doll, and DreamScene Doll, a CD, a Carebears video, flashcards and at least 4 activity books. She was so happy playing and telling everyone she met that she had a birthday.

We caught a cab back to the airport and instead of waiting to get on our plane at 6:45 in the evening and just hanging around the airport, I requested standby to get home sooner. Since our plane was running late already ( how they knew that at 1pm, I won't know, but am very glad they did!) After waiting for one lane and rushing to the next, we got on and were home before we should have left :-)
Meet the newest member of the Chicago Mob!

Mmmmm 5 dollar airport drinks are yummy!! At least she loved it and actually drank it!! :-)



Sera was thrilled to see our family at Applbe*s waiting for her, to celebrate her birthday. She loved being sung too and was so excited to be 5!!!

We then came home to crash!

Now I am making arrangements for all her pre op stuff they need in less than 2 weeks. I hope we can get a CT scan done that fast!!


Isn't that the most beautiful smile!!! I need to remember it! I know it will be more "typical" in a few weeks, but I think her Father made her perfectly!!