One of the most frustrating things about Ellie's cleft is the fact that all of the specialists she needs to see are only available in Hobart. Any time she needs to see the surgeon, or speech therapist, or ear, nose and throat specialist, we need to make the four-hour drive down to Hobart. Because we cant afford for Drew to miss too many days of work, or to use all of his leave except for surgery, we generally need to do these trips in the one day. So that's eight hours in the car.
Doctor Kimble, Ellie's surgeon, needed to see her before he could schedule the first surgery. Our apointment was set for 11.45am, so knowing that the highway was almost one continuous stretch of roadworks, we left early - 6am.
I'd been awake since 2am thanks to Ellie not wanting to settle after her feed, but at least I could sleep in the car. Poor Drew had finished work at 10.30pm the night before and there would be no chance of a nap for him until we were home.
Those that read my previous blog will know how annoyed I was the first time we travelled to Hobart to see Doctor Kimble. We were kept waiting for over two hours, and eventually had to leave without seeing him at all. So I was expecting to wait a long time, and was probably going in a bit cranky before we even got there.
We arrived at the newly built Wellington Clinics 20 minutes early, which was good because Ellie was due for a feed. We went up to the floor we were meant to be on, but our clinic had been moved so we changed floors and then settled in to feed Ellie.
The Wellington Clinics are definitely a lot nicer to wait around than the falling-apart Royal Hobart Hospital. The waiting rooms are bright and funky, and the floor we were on had a nice little kid's corner. The only thing really missing is a baby change table in the toilets. I had to change Ellie on the floor twice while we waited. At the time I thought this must be something that they hadn't had a chance to put in yet, but I've since heard its not going in at all. Which is a real shame, especially on the floor that the cleft clinic runs out of, where there will always be babies waiting.
While we were waiting our speach therapist, Sarah, came in and said hello. I took the chance to get a quick consult in and asked her what she thought about Ellie's wind problems. She agreed that it was definitely colic, and most likely reflux, but that we were doing everything right. She didn't think changing the bottle to one of the other cleft-compatable bottles would make a difference, and suggested we see our GP about getting some reflux medication.
After only half an hour past our appointment time a very friendly looking older man came down the hall and spotted Drew pushing Ellie around the hallway. He recognised Drew straight away and asked us to come through. It was my first time meeting Doctor Kimble, and right from the start he wasn't what I expected.
The thing I like about Doctor Kimble is that he's so easy-going. He is happy to sit with you and answer all of your questions, and in a way that anyone can understand. No complicated doctor speak, which means I don't have to translate to Drew.
He introduced us to a team of people who would all play a part in Ellie's treatment over the coming years. As well as Sarah, there was a dentician, and an ear, nose and throat surgeon. We were only there to consult with Doctor Kimble, but it was a good chance for everyone to meet and make the first of many contacts.
Doctor Kimble explained that the first surgery would be done at around three months old and would involve joining the sides of her top lip together with the central part. It would be a two to three hour procedure, and she would need to stay in the hospital for three days after the surgery. He said that he would usually discharge paitents after that, but because we were from the north and would have a long trip if anything went wrong once we were home, he would prefer to keep ua longer. As an alternative though he would be happy to discharge us and have us spend a couple of extra days at Ronald McDonald House for monitoring.
We were given the chance to ask questions, but he had done such a good job of explaining that we didn't have any. He sent us off with the admission forms and said we should be going in around the middle of April.
The whole appointment took 15 minutes. Eight hours of driving, for 15 minutes with a doctor. It amazes me that we have so much technology available these days, but can't offer these sort of appointments via skype at a local hospital. Hopefully this is something that will happen in the future.
We decided to hit the road straight away, so that Ellie's next feed would be due around the time we arrived in Campbell Town. I'd expected to still be waiting so I was pretty happy to be getting out of there so soon.
At Campbell Town we stopped at Banjo's where we could grab some coffee and give Ellie her bottle. It was also a good chance for Drew to stretch his legs and take a break from the driving. Then we were back on the road and heading home.
We stopped in at Bec's to pick Sophie up and feed Ellie again before went went home. Thanks to sleeping in the car all day and me forgetting to take the infacol Ellie had a pretty terrible night, and I was very glad to finally climb in to bed at the end of the day.
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