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CleftPALS Australia Inc's National AGM

July 3rd and 4th, 2009

 Sydney, NSW

my version of the weekend - Second Day - Saturday Part 2.

Getting there | First Day | Second Day Pt 1| Second Day Pt 2

 

Lunch was delicious and now we're back in the room ready to listen to a few more hours of speakers.  I'd like to take a moment here to point out that my children were amazingly patient with this whole day.  If adults thought it was tiring and a lot to take in, spare a thought for my 16 year old and my 13 year old.  They kept themselves silently occupied though and to my surprise could actually discuss the contents of the speaker's presentations with me afterwards - I was impressed!

 

The first speaker for the afternoon was Nicole Coburn - the Cleft Lip and Palate/Craniofacial Surgery Clinical Nurse Consultant at Westmead Children's Hospital.  Now this is not a role that I believe we have here in SA - as Nicole seemed to be the 'point of contact' for all cleft related queries.  We heard from a mother who basically said that Nicole was her amazing rock in the start and made everything so much more clear to her, was there for her and was the one 'steady' thing throughout the ride.  Now as I said, I don't believe we have that here in SA and that's sad as we really need a constant in the hospitals as we are always so unsure of what's going on, when it was meant to be done and what's coming up next.  Nicole seemed to smooth all that out - what a fantastic job - one she absolutely adores by the sound of her and her speech. She was really inspirational and I only wish SA had this kind of liaison at their hospitals.

 

Next was the circle of sharing from the NSW members.  I wasn't sure what this was going to be about but it was very informative and heartwarming.  It's a fantastic idea and one I hope we adopt here in SA for our meeting next year.  I think it means a lot to let the 'specialist's there hear 'our' stories as well.  I was really moved, to tears, on several occasions. Thanks to you all for sharing your stories with us. 

 

After this Dr Kit Chan spoke. She is the Orthodontist Specialist in the treatment of Cleft Lip and Palate condition.  If Tim's Orthodontist was as lovely and friendly as Dr Chan appeared to be, we wouldn't be moving hospitals!  She was delightful to listen to, truly inspirational and it was very helpful to hear her version of what children go through. She seemed very aware of the fears of her patients (and their parents) and was intuitive to their feelings - which was very pleasing to hear.  She also appears to have a fantastic sense of humour - which is really necessary around children I believe. 

 

Graeme Wallace was up next.  I have heard Graeme speak before, he appeared at the Victorian Speaker's Day, discussing the research he's been doing related to non-syndromic causes of Cleft.  He looks at such things as miscarriage before conceiving, diet, nutrition and education levels.  It was interesting to hear the progress of his research and to hear some of the discoveries he'd made.  He is part of the research team at the Southern Cross University of Lismore. 

We were meant to get a screening of "Pinki's Smile" which is the Oscar Award Winning Documentary of a young girl named Pinki and the repair of her cleft.  Many thanks to Laurie Woods who worked hard behind the scenes to get this for us however due to lack of time, we had to cancel the screening - which was very disappointing. 

I did remember to jump up and thank the NSW committee on behalf of the National Delegate.  Normally Ros does that, but as it was her state it seemed only fitting the Secretary step up this time.

By now it was time to go home. I was again brain addled and feeling even sicker than I had in the morning.  We're pretty sure the dinner wasn't the best last night - pity as we paid $70 for it! Still I wanted to drive into the city to go across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, knowing it was probably the only chance I'd get.  We said our goodbyes and headed off, agreeing to meet up for dinner later.

Not only did I get to drive over the bridge, I got to go under it and also through the city - all not expected however I missed the turn off for the bridge and had to negotiate myself around an unfamiliar city in the dark of night ...  easy really!  Did you know that Sydneysiders decide that they will walk across the road at their leisure?  They don't seem to know what the little red man standing still means at intersections.  Once I started walking around the city I could kind of see why they cross at will - some of those Actually, it wasn't that bad and I did manage to find my way back to the Bridge - which was just as well as the GPS was having spits and kept losing our location.  Of course, the hire car didn't come with a road map book either - why would you need one of those in your hire car in a strange city? pft!   Did I happen to mention that we got upgraded from our little 5 door hatch small car to a very swish Holden Commodore? I think the guy at the airport took one look at all of our bags and took pity on us!  It was rather nice and now I want the Holden Cruze even more.. pooh!

Anyway - we did finally make it back to the apartment in time to spruce up, change my top and head out again.  Dinner was at the River Canyon Family Restaurant in Parramatta, just near the river.  This is one of those costs that the committee doesn't cover so if you come along, be prepared!  This wasn't too bad - $33 per head plus drinks.  It was all you could eat but there wasn't a huge variety I found - or maybe that was because I was feeling a little 'off' so I was being a little more selective. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not usually precious about things like this but when the kids only had choc mousse or crem'e caramel to choose from, I thought that was a little light on - especially as they were $19 per head!  Then I went to pay as we needed to go (read that as *I* needed to go home) and they couldn't split the bill so everyone had to pay because we were leaving - awkward!  But they all seemed to forgive me :) 

 

We left them dancing the night away on the dance floor - a well deserved end to a very hectic and information-filled weekend! 

The next morning it was  quick hugs goodbye (and regret we didn't spend more time together - they are such FUN!!). They all headed off to the airport to catch their respective flights, and we headed off into Sydney to start our family holiday properly.

 

So you get an idea of the CleftPALS AGM weekend now... 

..........not really a free weekend at all, is it?

 

Thanks for reading. Now it's SA's turn to do all this next year.. with a lot less committee than they had... Fingers crossed for us and put your hand up if you can help in ANY WAY!!  :)

Getting there | First Day | Second Day Pt 1| Second Day Pt 2

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