First Visit Down... only ???? to go

We had the visit with the plastic surgeon yesterday, at Children's. Let's say that the doctor sort of ticked me off. After sitting down and maybe knowing us for 30 secs, the good old doctor asked me why I waited so long to get her palate repaired, then before I could answer, he pipes up that he knows its all my fault. I took a deep breath and explained that Kaitlynn had only been with us for 2 months, and it was in fact not my fault, and that I considered that we actually were quite fast in seeing the good doctor. The look of surprise on his face was complete, but he didn't apologize, he just continued to talk to me. Later on he says to me that Kaitlynn is probably deaf, as the palate can affect the hearing quite severely. Again, I took a deep breath and explained to him that no, she was not deaf, especially considering how many french words she had acquired in such a short time. I then explained that my eldest was hearing impaired and that I did not see the type of behaviour that accompanies hearing impediments in Kaitlynn. Again, he didn't correct himself... just kept talking. By the time he said 'Do you have any questions?" I had lost pretty much most of my respect for him. Let's just say his bedside manner needs some work.

Now, onto the important stuff, most cleft palates are repaired at 1 year of age and Kaitlynn is 2 1/2 yrs... so it needs to be done soon, very soon. Maria, the angel from the Cleft Clinic, and Laura, the plastic surgeon's secretary, said that they would work together to get her paperwork in place so that she could have the surgery asap. They are aiming for March, at the latest April to get this done. She will be in the hospital 2 or 3 days, depending on how she recovers, and we can stay with her the whole time. They will give us splints for her arms so that she doesn't go into her mouth and take the stitches out. The good news is the plastic surgeon said that it doesn't hurt nearly as much as getting tonsils out! If you recall, Tristan had his tonsils and adenoids out back in June and it was not a pleasant/pain free experience.

While at the Children's and trying to find Colette and her crew, they were giving out children's books for FREE to promote literacy. Can you imagine? Me and the K being given free books?!! It was like Christmas in July (or rather, January) for us! Kaitlynn also got to meet the author/illustrator of the Stella/Sasha books, Mary Louise Gay. She was so taken with Kaitlynn, that she drew her a little cat and wrote her a little note on a sticker. I think Kaitlynn is quite taken with the illustrator's in her milieu... right Lianne? She is, by the way, calling Tao Tao on her play phone every day... following a playdate she had with the Tao and the Gretchen. More on that later!