On June 3, John and I went for our first consultation with a craniofacial surgeon. It may sound weird to say that I was excited about it, but I was. It was really our first big step in the decision-making process, and I couldn't wait to meet one of the two surgeons that we're going to choose from. The doctor's name is Dr. Genecov. If any of you watched TLC (or maybe it was Discovery Channel), there was a show on there about Egyptian twins conjoined at the head. Dr. Genecov and his partners are the ones who separated them! I think this guy knows what he's doing! I don't know exactly how big a roll Dr. Genecov played in that procedure, but he was on the show a few times. Pretty cool. If you're interested in checking out his practice's website, here it is. It's got lots of good info about cleft lip and palate as well as pics of the condition and the doctor. http://www.craniofacial.net/index.htm
Over the last three months I have been reading almost everything I can get my hands on about clefts. So nothing that Dr. Genecov said surprised me. We'll go in two weeks after Oliver's born for an assesment and they will fit him for a palate appliance if there is a cleft in his palate. (This is something I need to ask a few more questions about. I'm not exactly sure what all of the purposes of the appliance are.) He will do a lip and nose repair when Oliver is about 10 weeks old. If there is a cleft palate, Dr. Genecov will repair it at 9-12 months old. (That's about 6-9 months earlier than some other surgeons do.) Over the next few years, there will be more fine-tuning the lip and palate repairs as needed to perfect appearance of the face and function of the palate for speech. The doc was really nice and personable. Has a good "bedside manner", I guess people say. He walked in the door, and the first thing he said was, "So, you have a 3-year-old and a 22-month-old. Are you gluttons for punishment??" Then he asked lots of questions about us, where we're from (he apparently lives near Boone Pickens and knew lots about how he has donated tons of $$ to OSU), and he said he was glad to know that we prefer OSU to OU. Gotta like this guy!
We also met with a speech pathologist who works with Dr. Genecov. Her name is Dr. Sperry, and she was really great. She gave us tons of info about special feeding that will be necessary if Oliver has a cleft palate. He wouldn't be able to create suction if there is a hole in the roof of his mouth, so there are several special kinds of bottle nipples specifically for these babies. Ones that you help squeeze to get milk out, or ones they can gum/chew on to get milk out. If Oliver has a cleft lip only, I will most likely be able to nurse him like I did the girls. If there is a cleft palate, he won't be able to get enough nutrition that way (again, unable to suck), so we'll have to go with one of the special cleft palate feeders. Dr. Sperry assured us that she will help with ANY feeding issues we come up with, so that was comforting. And she is the one who will do speech therapy as needed in the future.
We have an appointment with one other surgeon next month, but John and I are both really excited about working with Drs. Genecov and Sperry. Guess we'll meet with the other guy and give him a whirl, though. Plus, Dr. Genecov is a cosmetic surgeon, too. I'm thinking maybe I can get a little hook-up and have him put my saggy, thrice-pregnant body back where it's supposed to go!
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3 comments:
I was looking at the website, were they able to tell if Oliver has a unilateral or bilateral cleft? I didn't realize there were so many different variations, that's very interesting!! We will all learn so much!
Yeah, Katie, that's a good question. I haven't talked about that except verbally to a few people. Oliver's got a unilateral cleft, which means it's only on one side. His left side.
Ok, I was reading where the cleft lip is more common in boys, but the cleft palate is more common in little girls. How interesting! It's amazing the strides they've made in this area over the last 10-15 years!! Wow! I was looking at some before and after pictures and by doing the surgery so early they really minimize the scaring! In the pictures I saw by school age you could hardly even see the scar! That's amazing!! It's comforting to be able to able to get so much information!
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