Tuesday, August 26, 2008

"G"

Our little guy is currently known to his caregivers as "Igor". He is starting to hear his mom & dad call him "IgorGarrett". His full name will be Garrett Neal Massie when all the legal docs and proceedings are finalized. For the purpose of this blog we will be calling him "G".

Our visits are going very well. He is such a happy little guy. Loves apple juice, fruit and crackers. Today we brought a watermelon for his group and they had a blast with that! There are 10 little ones in his group including him and 3 caregivers and 1 cook for their group. It is a very well staffted orphanage and the children clearly have strong bonds with their caregivers.

He is all boy.... runs insteads of walking, throws and kicks everything slightly resembling a ball, and protests to having his hand being held. But he has such a sweet side and is constantly laughing. He is getting very accustomed to our visits and growing closer to us daily. He tumbled off a bench yesterday and stratched up his ckeek, nose and lip. He was unwilling to release the car and crayons in his hands to break his fall! He recovered well but was so happy to snuggle with me for quite a while.

His vocabulary is very limited due to his cleft palate which has never undergone surgery improvements. This will be a primary focus for us when we return. But it is definitely making the communication easier as he is not frustrated with expressing himself to us since he is used to using sign language. And we understand all the words in his limited vocabulary. He seems to understand all the basic english words we are using. And he is very obedient.

Thanks so much for all your loving words of support :-)

PS we welcome any STL recommendations for surgeons specializing in cleft palates and speech therapy

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mon, my former co-worker Joni adopted a boy from the Ukraine with a cleft pallet several years ago. He is about 6 now. Anyway, when you get home, give me a shout and I will hook you two up.

Anonymous said...

Your visits sound wonderful!!
I will ask a couple people for recommendations but if you have any specific questions remember that our cousin Denise worked with the top cleft palate surgeons in the world a few years back. She would be great to talk to also. Thanks for the updates!!
Much love,
Theresa

Anonymous said...

Mon, can you get e-mail? I have some info for you from Joni. Let me know where to send.

Kevin and Pam said...

Love the name Garrett! That is our son's name. Congratulations.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm Connie's friend. We adopted an 18-month boy from the Mykolayiv region (southern Ukraine) in December 2004. Our son was born with a severe cleft lip and palate. I can personally vouch for the cleft palate team at St. Louis Children's hospital.

Enjoy the rest of your time in Ukraine and be sure to get in touch with me when you get home with your little guy. Connie has my email address if you have any questions now.

Best wishes! Joni T.

Anonymous said...

We adopted a 4 year old from Ukraine in 2005 and it was the best experience of our lives. I actually work for Wash U at St. Louis Children's Hospital . Everyone is great at Children's. If you want I can find out the doctors names and phone numbers, etc. Good luck with the rest of the process.
Vickie
kitchell2000@sbcglobal.net

Anonymous said...

Hi "M". One of Seanie's friend's moms is a speach therapist over in Belleville. She reccomended the cleft palate team at Children's, but said that since it will be an ongoing relationship, that you may want to "interview" them first to make sure that it's a good fit. She reccomended working with the speach therapist thru the hospital as long as possible. She said you are welcome to call her if you have any questions or need a reality check. Here, let me post her number on you blog. No not really. I'll get it to you when you get back. She really likes working with cleft palate kids, but of course, she is in the wrong state.
Talk to you later.
elli

Courtney said...

Elli,

I would be interested in the information on your speech therapist friend. One of our sons (adopted last December from UA) has some speech issues and we're wondering if therapy would help. If you don't mind, could you email me her information? frogcourt at yahoo dot com

Thanks!

adoptedthree said...

The pictures are just adorable!

What a bummer on the court date because of the judge but at least it is scheduled!

McD's is like a little slice of home urkainian style and has air conditioning too :)

adoptedthree said...

Regarding CP surgery, I would check with your local children's hospital they usually have a team that will evaluate G-including ST, ENT, Dentist, Nutritionist, Plastic surgeon, Oral Surgeon etc... on the team. Make an appointment prior to returning.

Another option is using your local shriners hospital. We are doing this for part of our daughters surgery (pharyngeal flap)

Definitely work with the Signs!

You will probably also want to apply for the SS prior to receiving the COC. The difference is that you will have to return later with the COC to update his status from perm alien to citizen, but at least you can get the SS for the health insurance or you will have to pay out of pocket for reimbursement.

Here in Ohio we have BCMH (bureau for Children with Medical Handicaps) which covers co pays and additional ST for Oksana.

Call your local job and family services and they can tell you what types of intervention are available for free.

Also in Ohio we have a state grant for adopting children with Special needs- double check with your state and see what is available

email me for further info
boomerseyler@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

You may also be able to get some speech therapy through your local school district if he qualifies for special education. You'd deal with your school district or SSD depending on which district you live in. Those are free services.

Mary