November 2, 2010- part 1

Emerson's clinic-

It started off with us going to the wrong place! They had failed to tell me that it was not in the same building that all the other appointments we have taken him to were in. I know it was an over site on their side not mine because we scheduled it for 9:00 a.m. and I would NOT have done that if I had known we would be downtown in the big ol' city. You see, I do NOT drive downtown unless I absolutely, positively have to. I prefer the country roads. Even if I had no other choice but to have it downtown (It turned out it was my only choice. I just did not know that when we were scheduling.), I would definitely not have set it up for 9:00...really?... rush hour time?! Uh, NOPE!!!! By the way, the address was not on the paperwork either. We checked.

Thank God, Ron reached the parking lot just as Emerson and I were heading to the car to head downtown. What choice did I have? Yikes!!!! So, we ended up following Ron down to the hospital where they were kind enough to still see us. We were only about 1/2 hour late...not too bad. Soon after starting the process, Ron had to head back to school to pick up Veronica as it would take about 45 minutes to get there. By the time they made it back we had only seen two doctors. We had his ears checked. I am still not convinced that the tests were 100% accurate; but, I am not a professional in that area. I believe the tests that showed that he has fluid in his ears. The tests where they "conditioned" him to put balls in a bucket whenever he heard a sound was a little less reliable in my opinion. He is 2 1/2, just home from China, new situation, etc., etc. They even did a test where they stuck us in a little room, Emerson had headphones in his ears, and they made little boxes with characters light up and move. He had to turn towards the sound. To me, it was rather creepy. :) Anyways, they came to the conclusion that he has moderate hearing loss in both ears and will need to have tubes put in both ears. This will be done at the same time he has his surgery for his palate.

The next stop was at the ENT. They explained about the surgery and that was about it. Ron and Veronica made it back while we were sitting there. That tells you how long we were waiting at just those two stops. Remember Ron had to drive 45 minutes to the school, walk in, pick up Veronica, walk back out and drive 45 minutes back. To think this was only the start of it all.

We were then sent back to where we had started. We saw the plastic surgeon who explained the process for us. We are going to try to have his palate repaired and tubes put in before the end of the year. "Merry Christmas!" He will only need to stay at the hospital overnight as long as he is eating and drinking enough. Get this though, he will have to have brace like things put on both arms to keep them straight so he cannot undo anything they do during the surgery. He will need these on for like 3 weeks!!!! He will not be able to bend his arms at all. Now, how do we explain this to an almost 3 year old?! We will be feeding him. How will he play?! When he is around 5, he will have another surgery to try to repair his lip a little more. Then, when he is around 7, he will have his gums and teeth fixed. They will have to take some of his hip bone to do the graft. Scary! Our poor baby!

The next person we saw was a dentist. He explained that we need to keep the teeth that are turned into the gum clean and healthy. Otherwise, it could in turn ruin the bone underneath.

Our last stop was with a speech therapist. We had to explain that he really does not speak English yet. He understands it very well and communicates like a pro though. She had recently adopted a little girl from China; so, it was fun to compare our trips. They had traveled in January...brr!

So, in four hours, we saw 5 specialists. Just think, we will have to do this once a year at least! Boy is Emerson worth it though! No doubt about it. The bonus will be that I will be a pro at driving downtown...at least to the hospital. :)

I forgot to mention that at the beginning of the clinic the nurse wanted to get pictures of Emerson. He was not cooperating as far as not looking where she wanted him to. She went out and came back with a teddy bear for him. The teddy bear has a repaired cleft lip too! How cute is that?! Emerson took to that bear and it is now his special friend. So sweet!!!!