We would highly recommend our OBGYN Dr Edmund Hon www.wellwoman.com.hk who has been on this journey with us for years. I think when a Mom trusts her OB with her baby's life and and a husband trusts his wife's life in the OB's hands - you have a circle of trust. He is extremely generous with sharing information and listening to concerns. His honest and humanistic approach has always been a welcome relieve to both Mark and I.
First point of call after being diagnosed should be the Hong Kong Assoication for Cleft Lip and Palate www.cleftlip.org.hk/?lang=en. Set up by Joanna Chu who found it difficult to source information after her daughter was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate 20-odd years ago. Joanna who is a fountain of information met with us and we found our initial meeting was invaluable to us. We had the opportunity to see before and after photos and let's be honest, this is what we wanted to see. Well, I wanted to see photos. I wanted to know who every surgeon was and what they were capable of. Joanna will put you in touch with parents who are going through the same journey and also will support you through your journey.
In Ireland it is more GP orientated care system and I don't normally have a Pediatrician for my children. However, I didn't want to bring Ultan to a doctor who may or may not have seen a cleft before or if they did it would have only been while training. Therefore we choose Dr Barbara CC Lam who was the consultant in charge of the NICU unit in Queen Mary Hospital for many years before she went private in 2007.
A good friend of mine introduced me to Dr Valerie Pareira Phd (Impact of maxillary osteotomy on speech in Cleft Lip and Palate). Valerie has worked for more than 10 years as a specialist speech and language therapist in Cleft Lip and Palate in Great Ormond Street Hospital, London working with infants, children, adolescents and adults with a cleft condition. Valerie's work has been published in Cleft Palate Cranofacial Journal and she is also written/co-written book chapter in the field. She has been a great support to me since I was diagnosed and I know she will be going forward after Bryo is born. We are very lucky to have her expertise here in Hong Kong. If you want to contact Valerie, email val_j_p@yahoo.co.uk
A list of Cleft centers and surgeons in Hong Kong supplied by HKACLP
Cleft Centres in Hong Kong:
Hong Kong Island
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: Queen Mary Hospital / The Prince Philip Dental Hospital
|
Kowloon
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: United Christian Hospital / Kwong Wah Hospital
|
New Territories
|
: Prince of Wales Hospital / Tuen Mun Hospital
|
Surgeons in charge of Cleft Centres at Public Hospitals
Surgeons in charge of Cleft Centres at Public Hospitals
Name
|
Surgeons in charge
|
Specialty
|
Queen Mary Hospital
|
Dr. Li Kam Hop, George
|
Plastic surgeons
|
Kwong Wah Hospital
|
Dr. Leung Mei Yee
|
Plastic surgeons
|
Tuen Mun Hospital
|
Dr. Choi Wing Kee
|
Plastic surgeons
|
United Christian Hospital
|
Dr. Liu Kam Wing, Kelvin
|
Paediatric surgeons
|
Prince of Wales Hospital
|
Dr. Lee Kim Hung
|
Paediatric surgeons
|
Private Surgeons
Name
|
Specialty
|
Dr. SK CHOW
|
Plastic surgeons
|
Dr. Lam Lai Kun
|
Plastic surgeons
|
Dr. Pang Chi Wang, Peter
|
Plastic surgeons
|
Dr. Cheung Wing Yung
|
Plastic surgeons
|
Dr. TK CHOW
|
Maxillofacial Surgeon
|
Hong Kong Multidisciplinary & Holistic Centre for Cleft Lip and Palate (HKMHCCLP) at Evangel Hospital
Cleft surgeon
|
Dr. SK CHOW (Plastic Surgeon)
Dr. TK CHOW (Maxillofacial Surgeon)
|
Anesthesiologist
|
Dr. Anne Kwan, Superintendent of Evangel Hospital
|
Orthodontist:
|
Dr. Tony Lee
|
ENT surgeon
|
Dr. Ho Fung, Kenneth
|
Speech Therapist
|
Miss Christine Ching
|
Easing The First Hours Video
The Northern and Yorkshire Cleft Lip and Palate Team in Newcastle, England have launched their new film, "Easing The First Few Hours" (part funded by CLAPA), as part of Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness week.
It is a comprehensive film covering types of cleft, causes of clefting, the care that the baby and child will receive with the cleft team and, importantly, the experiences and advice of parents whose child was born with a cleft lip and or palate. It is aimed at new parents and the health professionals who treat them at the time of diagnosis or birth.
www.cleftline.org
www.widesmiles2.org
www.cleftadvocate.org
www.smiletrain.org - Interview with Brian Mullaney, co-founder of Smile Train
www.operationsmile.org
Thoughts on 3 of the surgeons we met from our 'relief' post!
Returning to my stalking efforts of Dr Kelvin Liu - we had put it out there that we wanted to meet with him. We had spoken to surgeons we knew and asked for word to be passed but he was on holiday and out of the country and was attending seminars, I even saw that Dr Liu was giving a talk on a particular Sunday - only Fellows were invited but I did seriously consider crashing the event! However, on a different matter, we had arranged to meet with Dr Jennifer Sihoe who is a Paediatric Urologist Surgeon to discuss Bryo's kidney. During the meeting we made Jennifer aware of our stalking efforts of Dr Kelvin Liu. Dr Sihoe finding this rather amusing became our stalking angel as she is good friends with Dr Liu and he was coming in to see her that afternoon - result! That afternoon we met Dr Kelvin Liu and he was a pleasure to meet. Firstly, he studied in Ireland, albeit he has lost his Irish accent!!! He did his surgical training in Our Lady's hospital Crumlin, Dublin and now he a Paediatric Surgeon and heads up the CLAPS Team in UCH. UCH deal with approximately 75% of the Cleft cases in Hong Kong. To my knowledge if you deliver in Queen Elizabeth hospital you will automatically get support from the UCH team. Dr Liu took his time to bring us through each stage of treatment from birth to teenage. In effect, he did what QMH should have done when we were diagnosed at 20 weeks. For this we will always be so grateful to him.
One of the best things about meeting Joanna Chu from HKACLCP was that we got to see before and after pictures. Consistently when I pointed out amazing work the same surgeon would be responsible for it. Dr Lam Lai Kun. Dr Hon referred us to see him and I was excited to meet the man behind so much incredible work. I do realize that this is a very Irish thing to say but one thing that I do miss living in Asia, is a firm, honest handshake. They aren't common this side of the world. When I walked in to meet Dr Lam, his handshake and eye contact was instant. He was so warm and instantly offered insight in his views of treatment. He was the first who spoke about different treatments but not to decide on which area to go until we meet our son. He was talking about individual treatment - something that was high on our wish list. Without prompting he discussed the difference between the Asian and Caucasian time lines - again a huge wish on our list. His repeat surgery was 0% - another big tick on our list. And he believed in as few surgeries as possible - my goodness, this man is reading our wanted list. On leaving his now standing room only waiting room (he spent a long time with us), and as we walked to the lift, Mark looked at me through the corner of his eye and said - "he has a good handshake". Those 5 words said so much to me. Was Dr Lam to be the surgeon who would be a huge part of our lives?!
www.widesmiles2.org
www.cleftadvocate.org
www.smiletrain.org - Interview with Brian Mullaney, co-founder of Smile Train
www.operationsmile.org
Thoughts on 3 of the surgeons we met from our 'relief' post!
We are registered with QMH so we got to meet with Dr George Li, Head of CLAPS QMH and consultant plastic surgeon. My initial impression of Dr Li is that he is pleasant but he is shy. He doesn't volunteer information or at least he didn't with us so when you do get to meet him I would advise you to be prepared with your questions. I came away from the meeting liking him and thinking he was a good man but wishing he had made me feel more aware of his vision, his outcomes, what we should expect but he didn't offer anything. He did answer what was asked of him but no more. I have to say the majority of the confidence didn't come from my meeting with him. I spoke to about half a dozen of his previous patients who spoke highly of his work. His facial expression is stuck in my head when I asked him if he would be sending a member of his CLAPS team to meet my baby once he is born - he looked at me as if I have two heads that I am still not sure if someone will be visiting Bryo. Surely, considering that QMH have no counselling service once you have been diagnosed, sure they don't let you wait weeks before seeing someone - right? They wouldn't - would they? I fear I will turn blue if I hold my breath......
Returning to my stalking efforts of Dr Kelvin Liu - we had put it out there that we wanted to meet with him. We had spoken to surgeons we knew and asked for word to be passed but he was on holiday and out of the country and was attending seminars, I even saw that Dr Liu was giving a talk on a particular Sunday - only Fellows were invited but I did seriously consider crashing the event! However, on a different matter, we had arranged to meet with Dr Jennifer Sihoe who is a Paediatric Urologist Surgeon to discuss Bryo's kidney. During the meeting we made Jennifer aware of our stalking efforts of Dr Kelvin Liu. Dr Sihoe finding this rather amusing became our stalking angel as she is good friends with Dr Liu and he was coming in to see her that afternoon - result! That afternoon we met Dr Kelvin Liu and he was a pleasure to meet. Firstly, he studied in Ireland, albeit he has lost his Irish accent!!! He did his surgical training in Our Lady's hospital Crumlin, Dublin and now he a Paediatric Surgeon and heads up the CLAPS Team in UCH. UCH deal with approximately 75% of the Cleft cases in Hong Kong. To my knowledge if you deliver in Queen Elizabeth hospital you will automatically get support from the UCH team. Dr Liu took his time to bring us through each stage of treatment from birth to teenage. In effect, he did what QMH should have done when we were diagnosed at 20 weeks. For this we will always be so grateful to him.
One of the best things about meeting Joanna Chu from HKACLCP was that we got to see before and after pictures. Consistently when I pointed out amazing work the same surgeon would be responsible for it. Dr Lam Lai Kun. Dr Hon referred us to see him and I was excited to meet the man behind so much incredible work. I do realize that this is a very Irish thing to say but one thing that I do miss living in Asia, is a firm, honest handshake. They aren't common this side of the world. When I walked in to meet Dr Lam, his handshake and eye contact was instant. He was so warm and instantly offered insight in his views of treatment. He was the first who spoke about different treatments but not to decide on which area to go until we meet our son. He was talking about individual treatment - something that was high on our wish list. Without prompting he discussed the difference between the Asian and Caucasian time lines - again a huge wish on our list. His repeat surgery was 0% - another big tick on our list. And he believed in as few surgeries as possible - my goodness, this man is reading our wanted list. On leaving his now standing room only waiting room (he spent a long time with us), and as we walked to the lift, Mark looked at me through the corner of his eye and said - "he has a good handshake". Those 5 words said so much to me. Was Dr Lam to be the surgeon who would be a huge part of our lives?!
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