Cody's Team Evaluation

Today has been an extremely long day. We were up bright and early and heading to Syracuse for Cody's team evaluation. Appointment was at 9:30 - had to be there 15 minutes before to register. Not sure what good any of that did as we didn't get home until 3! Thank goodness we ate some breakfast and convinced Cody to eat something because he would of been starving.

Let's see - this is how the day broke down:

We first were seen by a dental assistant who took a mold of Cody's mouth. He did fantastic considering it did not look comfortable at all. He started to cry a little but Brett and I talked him through it and he held up. He did great!

Then he was weighed. The kid only weighs 40lbs. He gained 1 pound since January. I only wish I could figure out how he does it. 1 pound in 6 months - UGH! Then they took a bunch of x-rays - panoramic and another. The equipment though doesn't go down far enough for his age so they brought in re-enforcements (a chair). Surprisingly he did wonderful again and stood perfectly still while this x-ray machine was going around his head. I think most kids would of wanted to follow it but he did great.

Next we met with the geneticist. I didn't really need to but whatever. Like it's been said before, Cody's cleft appears to be isolated and not part of any syndrome. He said if we were to have more children (which I quickly assured him that was not happening) then they would follow us closer. (Which they did with Tyler). He said when/if Cody father's a child they have a 3-5% chance of having a baby with a cleft. Dylan and Tyler have about a 1-2% chance. We know now though that it's obviously in a gene somewhere for Cody to have this so the boys will grow up knowing they need to always be prepared. It could skip them and not happen to their grandchild. What's hard is because we know nothing of Brett's family history and if a cleft runs in his family.

Then came audiology. It appears that Cody has a lot of wax built up. At first glance he was super concerned. Then he did the hearing test and Cody passed with flying colors. So the wax is not affecting his hearing. Which is great. At this point in the day as I had already teared up a few other times (watching him get those x-rays) I realized that he is actually becoming the patient. Gone are the days that we had to sit with him on our lap while he is "not happy" and letting everyone know it. Brett and I just 'stood back' and watched as he listened to the doctors and followed direction. What a great feeling.

Second to last we met with speech. Eileen conducted a couple quick 'tests' with him that he did quickly and perfect. She is a great lady that at first I never knew how to take her. Almost like you had to win her approval. She complemented me and Tish on a great job well done for following through with Cody and his speech. The rest of the short visit with her was spent discussing a few other families and what Lucky Smiles provides to so many others. While there they gave out 2 of our brochures and she told me that we provide a better service to families than they can. So I thought that was super nice of her and I really do appreciate all of their efforts to help spread the word. Eileen also wants Cody to come back up to see their photographer as they would like to use him in their clinic brochure. So we will see.

And last but not least.....we met with Dr. Tatum. He peaked in his mouth, ears, up his nose - made a couple notes to his students that were watching but that was about it. He showed Cody his mold of his teeth which Cody thought was pretty cool. He was concerned about the wax in his ears until he saw that he is hearing fine and then he said we could just watch it. He wants us to talk with our dentist about putting a device on Cody bottom teeth to help correct his cross bite. He feels that this would solve the cross bite issue and prevent us from having to have the jaw surgery later when Cody is a teenager. So I will make some calls and see. If she doesn't then we are going to Syracuse to see their dentist for the device. He feels it is something we should pursue.

Cody was a trooper and I am super proud of him. I will of course follow this up with our written report we get.