Always more to learn

When we first learned Wyatt has a cleft lip and palate and started learning about what it was and what treatment might look like we were overwhelmed by all the information. The further along we get the more it seems like this isn't going to change. The treatment of a cleft lip and palate is very involved and there is a lot to learn every step of the way. I often have to remind myself to take it one step at a time.

It is hard not to get ahead of ourselves. Luckily, everyone on the cleft team we are working with has told us from the beginning they will only give us the information we need at any given appointment or stage. As we learn more and ask more questions they tell us more. At first I thought I needed to become an expert. Not only is that impossible but it would be way too overwhelming. For me, as a parent, this has been a hard thing to accept. It is such a weird place to be, wanting to know everything to best help your child but not being able to handle it all at one time.

The internet isn't always that helpful either, not just because it can be scary and overwhelming, but because every situation is so different. It depends on the type of cleft and different doctors/teams have different methods of treatment. Every baby is different too. What bottle, taping method, etc. that works for one child might not work for another. Everything I read on the internet I have to take with a grain of salt because it may not be exactly the same for us. One thing I am really grateful to the internet for is the online cleft community. It is really easy to feel alone in this sometimes and babycenter.com, Facebook and blogs have made it really easy to connect with others going through the same thing.

So, here we are. One thing at a time. A cleft lip and palate at first glance seems like a pretty easy fix. You just sew it up right? Wrong. There are so many stages and they occur over such a long period of time. I recently learned that there are still things they can't fix until Wyatt is 21. TWENTY ONE YEARS OLD!

I started asking the orthodontist more questions and here is what I learned. Wyatt will see the orthodontist until he is done with his first surgery. He will start seeing her again for braces when he is 7 years old. At this time he will have braces for about a year. He will have braces again at 13 for another 2 years.

I asked if she had any idea how his teeth would come in etc. Based on the type of cleft he has and what I have read online I anticipated they wouldn't come in straight and he would be missing one or more teeth. With the different kinds of clefts some children have extra teeth or are missing teeth. She said Wyatt would probably be missing a tooth. I asked when/how they fix this and she said when he stopped growing at 21 years old they would put in an implant. 21 years old! She said they will put something there in the meantime so you won't be able to tell but they don't put the permanent implant in until he stops growing at 21. Wow.

I also learned after this first year we will have annual meeting with the cleft team. Everyone will be at the table including the Speech-Lang. Pathologist, Orthodontist, Surgeon, etc.