SMILES

Hi there- just an update. We saw the PS on thursday. Mia is doing great. He scheduled her surgery for May 6th. I was expecting that he would say March so I am relieved that its in May. unfortunately he was in a hurry so I still didn't get to fully discuss the sippy cup situation. I showed him my dozens of sippy cups that I bought for her and he said "i'm fine with any of those. She'll be on a cup at the time of surgery though right?" I just thought to myself "are you insane?" My son will be 3 in april and he still is in diapers and drinks out of a sippy cup. She will be 11 months on May 6th and he expects her to drink out of a regular cup? Let me just say that I really like this guy. He's so kind to my daugher but this is craziness. Thankfully we just switched pediatricians. My daughter's old pediatrician knew nothing about cleft palates. The new one has a wealth of knowledge so maybe she can help me. The PS also said he'd be putting a string through her tongue. I missed what he said about when that would be taken out. Does anyone know? Thanks, sandy

My grandson had palate repair in March 07. He had a stitch through his tongue after surgery to prevent any trauma to the palate in the event they needed to provide any kind of resuscitation or to pull his tongue down if there was any swelling that obstructed the airway. It's a preventive measure and he didn't even flinch when they took it out. The sutures were taped to his cheek. Very scary sight to see - but we are very thankful it was there - he required assistance twice with breathing issues! Palate was never injured thanks to the stitch!

Sandy, they took Jackson's out first thing the morning after his surgery! Don't worry, it is not as scary as it looks!