McMedicine

Today we took Wynn to Gillette Hospital to meet with the surgeon about her cleft palate. She'd been in an extremely cranky mood before we left, so we hoped for the best as we traveled down to St. Paul for the appointment. She was reasonably good under the circumstances; mostly she hated being put flat on her back to be measured. (Speaking of weights and measures ... our little Wynn has gained about two pounds! YES! Those McDonald's shakes sure do the job, don't they?)

The surgeon wants to get Wynn in to repair her palate as soon as possible. At eighteen months, she's at a rather critical age for speech development, so time is of the essence. He's having us go see an ENT first to check as to whether she'll need tubes in her ears (Cleft kids have more ear infections than average.), and he anticipates we can get her in for the palate repair surgery in early September. That's kind of a lousy time in terms of my work schedule, but Scott's up for the challenge (He's taken care of me after a couple of operations, yanno.), and it's really about doing what's best for her.

This was our first visit to Gillette Hospital, and we'd both just like to say that it was the most efficiently run medical facility we've ever seen - and we've seen our fair share. With absolutley no disrespect we describe it as being run on a fast food model of organization. We did new patient check-in, height and weight, consulted with the surgeon, and had photographs taken in 35 minutes flat. That's about as long as we'd normally expect to sit in a doctor's office waiting room on a GOOD day, so we were surprised that it went so quickly. They're extremely orgainized, have a great communications systems set up, and obviously have well-defined roles that help them all function so smoothly as a team. We left the height and weight room and were handed our file and told, "They're ready for you in Blue 4." We followed the signs, met with the surgeon, and were instructed to go to the photography room at the end of the hall, "They're expecting you." Wow. Everyone knew what was going on and had updated information along the way. They even had an air hockey table in the waiting room - not that we were there long enough to play. :-)

Tomorrow we'll be taking Wynn to her pediatrician's office to get her shots. Four of them. Yikes.

- Ann

Almost forgot ... Wynn slept in her own bed last night without rolling out! She woke up once and made a little concerned peep, so I told her it was okay and that she should go back to sleep, which she did. Tonight we're trying it with no grown-up in the room. She'll probably sleep just fine while I toss and turn in the other room being absolutely CERTAIN that I heard her make a noise.