Madison, Madison, Madison

Arriving at Madison airport I was shocked by the intensity of emotions that came over me. Such a small and unique city. Frankly (sorry dearest Madison) it's not a city that people would know of living in Europe. Although it is close to Chicago (by American standards) and although occasionally we may read about some researcher at the University of Wisconsin, I would have never heard of this city had it not been for Fi.

Madison is my kind of city: reasonably small and full of life and eccentricity. The large student population seems to keep people young at heart. You can actually walk to places, which is a nice change and not all the buildings are brand new made out of steel and concrete oh and houses are not cookie cutter.

Each visit we arrive here with so much fear and hope. The Ronald McDonald House where we stay each time couldn't be ran better. I hope when I retire I can get involved with running of of these amazing places, they really embody the term "practical help".

Dr Pauli practices in Madison. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have received a diagnosis at 4 weeks. We have so much to thank him for. I remember how I waited for Peggy's (his amazing genetic counselor assistant's) e-mails to arrive. We were so scared when we first flew across the Atlantic to see him when Fi was 5 months old. He was so experienced and brave and assured me that although cognitive problems often arise with HCH, he didn't think this was going to be the case with Fi, as moderate to severe cognitive delays would be noticeable by that age. I still spent a year obsessing over her cognitive development, tracking milestones every month, watching her like a hawk. I didn't really relax until recently as her speech and reasoning abilities are so beyond her age.

We then went to see him when she was 18 months old. This is a picture of him with Fi, excuse the bad "photo editing" job...It's one of the last pics of her before she got her glasses in November.

That time he said something that really scared me, in fact I was too scared to even write about it. I obsessed over it for a year and a half, staring at the poor kid half of the time.

We have now returned and neither him, nor I have any concerns about Fi. I am free of worry about her general health and development for now. Until I find something else to obsess over.

Her lordosis is very mild and so is her genu varum. Both are nearly age appropriate without HCH, he even said that if a kid without HCH would have either of them, noone would even take their child to a pediatrician about it... I agree.

I don't know if we will see him again, he may retire soon. But we will never forget him. He has restored my faith in the medical profession and both him and Peggy have done so much for us when we were at our lowest point in life. They helped us freely without anything in return.

He might not agree with my views on GH treatment or limb lengthening but he has treated us with nothing but respect.