Sip, Wait, and See

My hubby suggested last night that I take a more medical approach in some of my posts. But the thing is...with a laryngeal cleft, there is a lot of sip, wait, and see. Prior to Sloane's swallow study results in August 2011 after her cleft repair, I could have posted daily with medical updates (post: Are We There Yet). And probably should have!!! In future posts, I'll dazzle my followers with my knowledge of feeding tubes, reflux, aspiration and if you are lucky....ill post about what happens when your placenta abrupts and you have have a crash c-section. FUN for the whole family!!! Right now, we sip, wait and see.


A laryngeal cleft is in my opinion, an odd birth defect. You see, there is no easy fix or quick fix. No big surgery repairs the cleft immediately. No medicine makes it go away. I used to say to: 
we give babies open heart surgery within hours of life, but a cleft can't be fixed, 
we transplant organs in infants, but a cleft can't be fixed, 
we operate on babies' brains no matter their size, but a cleft can't be fixed. 


A laryngeal cleft is not an easy fix. There are days, months and Im now thinking years...... of sip, wait, and see. To put this in perspective, I have been waiting for 358 days to see what I did today. Almost a whole year....as I said a whole lot of sipping, waiting and seeing. Since Sloane's cleft repair in March 2011, I have been living from doctor appt. to therapy appt. to doctor appt. waiting for someone to say....ladies and gentlemen, the cleft has left the building! 


This afternoon during snack time, I asked Sloane if she wanted juice. My reply came with a big smile and a shake of the head. 1/2 juice and 1/2 water in the sippy cup to make 4oz and then one packet of Simply Thick (honey consistency) added in. A big shake to mix it up and we are off. 


I watched my daughter wander around our old living room, her new playroom. I am not quite sure how that happened?? Anyhow, Sloane wandered and sipped away at her sippy cup. She threw her head back and loved every minute of it. I watched and waited (for a cough, a gurgle, redness around the eyes) but nothing!!! And so what did I do, I cried. Yup. Tears rolled down my cheeks. The tears that happen when see something beautiful. I had waited 358 days to see something like this. To see my child hold a sippy cup and drink anything she safely could while being a normal baby. Not a baby strapped in a highchair with someone or sometimes 5 people staring at her, not a baby being x-rayed while swallowing, not a baby forced to drink...just a baby who wanted to drink and play and walk and of course, twirl and then drink some more.


Laryngeal clefts are a lot of sip, wait and see! Days and months go by in a blink but then something happens like today. Such an accomplishment becomes something so normal.