By Logan and Sonja Bristow - Bridgelin

By Logan and
Sonja Bristow
Logan’s
Cleft Lip
and
Palate Story
��� �

Baby Logan born July 23, 1988
8 lbs 6 oz
It was a hot day in July, and after a normal
pregnancy and a quick five-hour delivery,
I was born at St Paul’s Hospital in
Vancouver, British Columbia!

I love my
mummy!
My sweet
baby!
My mom tried hard
to nurse me, but I
couldn’t suck well
enough. My mom
pumped breast milk
to feed me, but I
had a difficult time
and found that I
could drink formula
more easily because
it was thick!

Eating
is hard
work!
At first, every waking
moment was a feeding
moment!
I had to learn to use
a special cross-hatch
nipple to drink my
milk because I had
no suction with my
cleft palate. I lost a
lot of weight before I
caught on! The bottle
was soft and my parents
helped me by
squeezing it gently.
I had a great trick
of shooting milk out
of my nose when I
choked or sneezed!

�
After lip surgery...
You’ll be
hearing
from my lawyer!
Surgery was hardest on my mom. After my lip surgery, I had to
wear splints on my arms so that I wouldn’t rub at the stitches.
The splints were made of tongue-depressors! My hospital stay
was for two nights, but some kids stay only one night.

There can be a lot of different specialists that make up the
building blocks of a team. These are just some of them:
Audiologist
Nurse
Oral Surgeon
Orthodontist
Pediatrician
Pedodontist
Plastic Surgeon
Speech-language Pathologist
Evaluates your child’s hearing from infancy.
Monitors health. Provides support for anxious
parents. Offers skilled caring.
Performs palate and bone graft surgery.
Monitors facial growth and development
and braces.
Monitors health, growth and maturation.
Children’s dental specialist. Dental care
is so important!
Performs lip and nose surgery.
Assesses speech development.
Cleft lip and palate children will undergo a thorough evaluation by many of the team specialists. The assessment
may take place in one long day or over several days on an outpatient basis. The team members then meet and
discuss all aspects of the child’s condition and make recommendations regarding treatment.

Hi, Logan!
I’m Dr Rosen.
I’m your
anesthetist.
The next doctor to come in is
Dr Rosen. He is my anesthetist.
He tells me all about what is going
to happen in the operating room.
He explains the IV and how I will
fall asleep. I am kind of scared.
…my an..
eestha…
whatt!!?
An anesthetist
is a special doctor
who gives the
drugs that put
you to sleep
before your
operation.

Logan’s
dental x-ray
Welcome to the
operating room.
We’re glad you
didn’t get lost
getting here!
Here
I go!
Dr Rosen is already here waiting for me and so are the others who
will be helping. Dr MacDonald is my surgeon and he will be here
soon. My mom takes pictures with her camera until it is time for me
to be put to sleep for my operation. I blow soap bubbles while they
put in my IV and I don’t feel a thing! I lie down and hold my mom’s
hand as they put in the anesthetic. Sometimes they get you to
count backwards from 20, but I’m already…..ZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!

Tadah!
I’m all done
(for a while).
I feel really good when I smile! After all the surgeries
I’ve had, I totally think it’s worth it! I like the way I look
(except sometimes when I get up in the morning, I look
kind of scary).

I have some growing up to do.
When my baby tooth falls out,
I will have a space that will
need to be kept open for an
eventual false tooth. When I’m
18, I will get a tooth implant.
So here I am in all my glory!
It’s now a waiting game until
my braces come off, and
I suppose there is
rhinoplasty (a nose job)
in a few years.

Before …
I am pretty laid-back
about this surgery.
The changes will be
relatively minor. There
will be swelling and
discolouration, but
I can handle that!
Ready and waiting …
reading outdated
magazines and trying
to envision my “after.”
… after

Logan and her
technicolour face
I feel terrible.
I can’t believe
I went into this
so positively!
Dr Son-Hing removes
my nose splint
I am experiencing a lot of swelling and I am nauseated from the
anesthetic. I have my splint on for 5 days and then it is removed.
This is not a pleasant experience! I am having a hard time shaking
the anesthetic and this makes my recovery rocky. I feel gross!

Helping a CHild prepare For a Hospital stay:
WHat parents Can do
Having a child hospitalized can be unsettling for the whole family. There are things that parents can do that will make the experience
easier for the child, siblings, other family members and parents, too! Here are a few tips that families have found helpful.
Preparing Yourself
A prepared parent is best able to prepare and support a child through a hospital experience. Find out all you can about the particular
hospital’s routines and procedures before your child is admitted. Ask if there is a hospital guidebook for parents and children. The
hospital’s public affairs department or patient representative’s office should be able to direct you to someone who can answer your
questions. It is a good idea to make a list. Here are a few questions that most parents need to ask:
1. What should I bring with me for my child? For me?
2. Can I stay overnight?
3. When can siblings, grandparents and friends visit?
4. Will there be times when I will be separated from my child? Why? For how long? Who will be with my child?
5. How can I be involved in my child’s care? If I am unable to be at the hospital, can my child’s grandmother, uncle or babysitter
stay with my child?
6. Where do we go when we first arrive at the hospital?
Preparing Your Child
Give your child a simple, honest explanation of the need for a hospital stay. The words you use will depend upon the age of the
child. Try to include “to help you grow” or “to help you stay strong and healthy” or “to help that part of your body do its job” in your
explanation. Children younger than 6 years of age should be told about a hospital stay a few days in advance. Older children should
be informed 1 to 2 weeks ahead of time.
Encourage your child to talk about going to the hospital. Answer questions honestly, being careful to answer only what is being
asked. If you are unsure, tell your child that you will write down that question and find the answer for him.
Check to see if the hospital offers a program to prepare your child for hospitalization. If there is one, try to have the whole family
attend. Take your questions with you!
Talk to your child about getting ready to go to the hospital. Favourite pajamas, stuffed toys, blanket, books and family pictures
can all be taken along.

Once you know about the routines of your particular hospital, books can be helpful in preparing your child for a hospital stay.
Because it is important for you to be able to point out things in the book that may be different from what your child may experience,
read the book yourself before reading it with your child. A toy medical kit can be used to encourage your child to show you what he
thinks will happen to him when he goes into the hospital.
Preparing Siblings and Other Family Members
It is important that everyone in the family is included in preparing for a child’s hospital stay. Siblings will want to know why a brother
or a sister and mom and dad will be away from home. Knowing who will be looking after them and how they can keep in touch with
their parents and brother or sister helps siblings feel included. Phone calls, letters, homemade cards and pictures all help siblings
stay in touch. If possible, arrange for siblings and other close family members to visit. Ask your child’s nurse to help you prepare
brothers and sisters for what to expect when they come to visit at the hospital. It will be helpful for your children’s teachers to know
that a child in the family is going to have a hospital stay. Cards and letters from classmates do wonders to cheer up a child in the
hospital!
Helping a child prepare for a hospital stay can be fun! You as a parent are your child’s most important source of support. Prepare
yourself first and be sure to ask for help with the unpredictable questions that all children ask!
Helping CHildren prepare For a Hospital stay or Visit:
WHat parents HaVe done
By Margaret, Texas
Our seven-year-old son, Matthew, was born with bilateral porencephaly and hospitalized frequently in the early years. Although he is
quite stable and progressing, there is still a multitude of follow-up medical visits every few months. Matthew learned a long time ago
that a doctor’s office is unpleasant for him. He hated blood pressure cuffs and little flashlights, and going for a computed tomography
(CT) scan of his head was a major ordeal. We have now progressed to the point where none of this bothers him anymore. This
is what we did:
Approximately one day before an examination, we would “rehearse”. We would wrap him in bath towels, “pad” his head with
smaller towels to keep it immobile (just like the technicians do in radiology) and gently talk to him, reassuring him that the procedure
would not hurt. We would put “floaties” (swim aids for children) on his arm and practice taking his blood pressure. Lying flat on the
kitchen table to simulate the examination table was also helpful. If he didn’t like the game, we stopped and tried again later. Amazingly,
he cooperated very well for a procedure that had been rehearsed.
This is simple to try. Don’t expect a child’s anxiety to disappear overnight and remember that sometimes there are procedures that
do hurt. However, young children can still learn that some examinations don’t hurt and it’s great when you can calm their fears.

About the Author:
Logan Bristow is a Trinity
Western University student
who lives in Langley, BC.
She is active with many interests
such as: snowboarding, dancing,
photography, scrapbooking,
drawing, drama, working with
kids, soccer, hiking, and hanging
with friends. She is especially
keen to share her cleft lip &
palate experiences with others
in the hopes that it can support
and educate those facing the
same journey.