bigbabyblues
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2004
- Messages
- 12,727
Today is the 5-year mark from my youngest DS' surgery, and I am thankful.
5 years ago today, my then 18-month old went through almost 7 hours of surgery to repair his skull. He had a condition called Craniosynostosis; basically, the bones in his "soft spot" fused together and closed up prematurely. I had never heard of it, and when DH took him for his 15-month checkup with a brand new pediatrician, she looked at his head and asked DH about it; we didn't know there was anything wrong with him at all--I thought she was crazy. Some of the children that have it have a different shape to their heads, but he didn't. He did cry more than our other DS, but we just thought he was fussy; I never guessed he was in so much pain, and I felt about two inches tall.
The next two and a half months were a blur of tests, scans, lab work, appointments with different doctors and specialists--all which had to be done at Children's Hospital, 2 hours from our home. During the surgery, they took out a strip of skull bone about 1 inch wide from the front to the back of his head; they also had to take some out of his forehead, and they put titanium plates in his forehead that will be there forever. His incision goes across the top of his head, from ear to ear; it will also be there forever. He spent 5 more days in the hospital, and it was awful. His little eyes were so badly bruised, he looked like he'd been badly beaten; they were swollen shut by the morning of the second day, and stayed that way until the day he was allowed to come home.
Today, 5 years later, he is a wonderful, loving, active 6 year old. The only lasting effect of the surgery is the scar that you can see part of. If people ask about it, he'll push his hair aside, show them the whole thing, and give his version of what happened to him. I kept a journal the whole time in the hospital, and I made a scrapbook; I copied the entire journal in the album. He loves to look at his album, and it just amazes me when he does. He doesn't point out the bandage on his head, the nasty looking incision, the black and blue eyes....he just points to the simple things; me and DH, his grandparents, the graham cracker he was eating, his binky, etc.
Thank you for letting me get my feelings out, ramble, and cry as I type this. DH is working, and I don't want to cry to the boys.
Steph
5 years ago today, my then 18-month old went through almost 7 hours of surgery to repair his skull. He had a condition called Craniosynostosis; basically, the bones in his "soft spot" fused together and closed up prematurely. I had never heard of it, and when DH took him for his 15-month checkup with a brand new pediatrician, she looked at his head and asked DH about it; we didn't know there was anything wrong with him at all--I thought she was crazy. Some of the children that have it have a different shape to their heads, but he didn't. He did cry more than our other DS, but we just thought he was fussy; I never guessed he was in so much pain, and I felt about two inches tall.
The next two and a half months were a blur of tests, scans, lab work, appointments with different doctors and specialists--all which had to be done at Children's Hospital, 2 hours from our home. During the surgery, they took out a strip of skull bone about 1 inch wide from the front to the back of his head; they also had to take some out of his forehead, and they put titanium plates in his forehead that will be there forever. His incision goes across the top of his head, from ear to ear; it will also be there forever. He spent 5 more days in the hospital, and it was awful. His little eyes were so badly bruised, he looked like he'd been badly beaten; they were swollen shut by the morning of the second day, and stayed that way until the day he was allowed to come home.
Today, 5 years later, he is a wonderful, loving, active 6 year old. The only lasting effect of the surgery is the scar that you can see part of. If people ask about it, he'll push his hair aside, show them the whole thing, and give his version of what happened to him. I kept a journal the whole time in the hospital, and I made a scrapbook; I copied the entire journal in the album. He loves to look at his album, and it just amazes me when he does. He doesn't point out the bandage on his head, the nasty looking incision, the black and blue eyes....he just points to the simple things; me and DH, his grandparents, the graham cracker he was eating, his binky, etc.
Thank you for letting me get my feelings out, ramble, and cry as I type this. DH is working, and I don't want to cry to the boys.
Steph
to you!!
