3rd. International Moebius Syndrome Conference
July 24-26, 1998
PICTURES!



What an incredible time we had! We saw old friends and made many, many new ones!

We arrived at the hotel in Mississauga at 6:30 pm on Thursday evening. Our 10 hr car drive went very well! We immediately saw a few Moebius families in the lobby and hugged each other. We took out luggage to the room, got Lauren's bathing suit on and took her to the pool to swim with her Moebius friends who had also arrived a day early! Then went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. And went swimming one more time before bed!

Friday was spent mingling with the Moebius families who were just getting there, registering, and offering to help where needed to get things underway!  Friday evening was the start of the Conference with opening remarks, a slide show, and a dinner buffet.

The feeling between all of us there was that of instant bonding. We each know the trials and tribulations of having a child with Moebius, so when I would see a Mother pouring a child's drink from a juice box into a cup, I thought, "that's what we used to do with Lauren when she couldn't drink from a straw...."

When Lauren would see another child with the same hand malformity as hers, she would say, "look, Momma, that little girl has the same hand as me!!!" We would immediately go over and start up a conversation and the kids would play together.

Saturday was a very informative day. We listened to wonderful speakers: those who are conducting studies on Moebius, a Speech Pathologist who had wonderful new ideas for us to use in Lauren's speech therapy, thoughts from an Opthalmologist and Respitory Therapist......and the list goes on....

Sunday was saved for the much awaited for....DR. ZUKER.....he is the Dr in Canada who is famous among us Moebius families for giving some children a SMILE! He told us that there is no better hospital than his to have the surgery done at. Therefore, we too, hope to be approved for Smile Surgery in Canada when it's Lauren's turn (+/- Jan. 2000).  He said that his staff is excellent and knows the entire surgical process from start to finish and post op. He has all his tools right there, rather than having to bring them to a 'visiting hospital', which he has done in the past.

He did say that once in a while, he can't get US children approved for surgery out of the country, so he does go to Indianapolis or California where there are 2 Dr's that he has worked with in the past. Dr. Zuker said that he has worked with the Dr in Indianapolis for the past 15 years on Smile Surgery. We hope to get approved to have Lauren's surgery in Canada. His secretary said to give her 4-5 mons prior to when we would like to have the surgery done in order for her to deal witht he insurance company.

Sunday afternoon we parted with some families that had to return home. Most were staying on a few more days and going on the Niagra Falls Tour, as we were, on Monday.

Monday was a long and tiring day - but we had a blast seeing Niagra Falls for the first time and of course, bought many souvenirs. :-) We saw the Falls, went on the Maiden of the Mist boat ride into the Falls, saw the Town of Niagra (very quaint and beautifully decorated with flowers), went to a winery in Niagra, and then finally back to the hotel at 8 pm that night.

Tuesday morning we got up, dressed, packed, and scooted out the hotel door for our drive home. We sure hated saying goodbye to everyone, but we each said, "SEE YOU IN 2000!" {we're not sure where the next Conf will be held as of yet! }