Last Visit to Sick Kids Dental Clinic

I think we have skipped writing about the last few visits to Sick Kids. You didn't miss much. The more recent visits have become pretty predictable: drive 2+ hours to Toronto, have plate adjusted, complain about how often Lucille takes out her plate, drive home (usually 1.5 hours home).  At one of the visits, the team recommended trying Fixodent (denture adhesive) to see if that would help keep Lucille's plate in.  She had it out within 30 seconds of driving away.  So, Lucille continues to take out her plate constantly and we continue to search for it and put it back in her mouth. We almost lost it at the park last week but that's a story for another day.

This week's visit broke from the monotony in three ways.  First, Lucille's Nana (Brandon's mom, Denise) was able to join us for the trip.  Denise was able to meet the amazing team at Sick Kids and see what Lucille's visits have been like.

The second reason why this visit stood out was this was our last dental clinic visit before Lucille's lip repair surgery.  It's hard to believe that we have made it to this milestone. While I am very eager for Lucille's surgery to happen, I'm also trying to be more present during these last few days while we are still taping, putting Lucille's plate back in, cleaning the plate and answering stranger's questions about "what's wrong with your baby?".  I can't say I'm going to miss these things, but I do recognize that we are coming to the end of a chapter and that things are going to be notably different after Lucille's surgery. 

In the spirit of reflecting on how life will be different post-op, I took some photos to capture the taping process from start to finish.  I also captured a gorgeous moment of Lucille without any tape on.  I've read other parents who have babies with clefts comment about how they were sad to say goodbye to the cleft.  I can't say that sadness is precisely how I feel, but I have loved everything about Lucille from the moment I held her and it's a strange feeling knowing that her adorable sweet smile is going to change so abruptly on Tuesday.  All babies change and look different over time.  Ours is just going to have a pretty obvious change occur in a very short period of time.  It's really hard to wrap my head around this. Looking forward to moving onto the next chapter.   

Oh, and the third reason. We made a new record and had a $12 visit!  See my earlier post for the context on that one.

In case you're interested, here is the step-by-step of the taping process.

My tools.  Bottom right are duoderm patches that I cut and put on Lucille's cheeks. I do the patches about once every week. The rest of the tape I change about twice a day. 

Looking lovely without her tape. This is the last time she'll be totally tape-free before surgery.  

Ready in lock-down position for taping time. Lucille has become so strong and active that I have to do her tape on the ground with my legs holding down her arms and legs and my feet keeping her head in place.  This picture shows Lucille with her duoderm patches on.  

Over the patches, I then tape her lip. In the picture below, the tape is with a steri-strip.  We used to use Dyna-cleft but the past couple of weeks have "graduated" to the single steri-strip as the lip became stretched enough that the Dyna-cleft wasn't quite working. The steri-strip is much easier to put on than the Dyna-cleft.

Next step, is to insert the plate. It's held in with more streri-strips. All taped up and ready to pull out the plate! 

I think our next post will be a big one.  Looking forward to it!