Sorry I didn't mean to throw out a date about Ashton's surgery and not explain it to you.
So here's the story:
When Ashton was a couple weeks old we started to notice the back of his head was kind of pointed. The pediatrician just told us to make sure he was sleeping on the back of his head and that it would fix itself and if not around 6 months they would put him in a helmet to reshape his head. Well around the new year we started to notice his head becoming more pointed so I looked up some stuff on the internet and found out he had saggital craniosynostosis. I went in and told the pediatrician what I thought and she got a CAT scan to confirm it. Sure enough that's what it was... did I mention that I LOVE the world wide web?
Anyway craniosynostosis is just a fancy word to say that a suture of the skull has fused prematurely. When we're born the sutures are open to allow the brain to grow up and then they eventually close as a child grows. Ashton's sagittal suture (the one that runs vertically over the head) has been fused shut (we think) since before he was born. So instead of the back of his head growing normally it is growing out the back because it can't grow up. It's not super obvious for someone who isn't looking for it - but as he grows it becomes more prominent.
Long story short: A pediatric craniofacial plastic surgeon and a neurosurgeon on April 1st are going to go in and reopen up that suture and reconstruct the back of his skull. They won't touch the brain and there will be no brain damage. It's scary to say head surgery but like I said we have the best doctor and the recovery isn't that bad at all. He will spend two nights in the hospital and within two weeks his skull will be completely healed. He'll have no limitations after the surgery he wont even need to wear a bandage or a helmet over his head.
We just feel super grateful we caught it early, that we have insurance, and great doctors. And Ashton is such a trooper we know he will be just fine!
2 comments:
We are praying for you guys and little Ashton. Having a good DR. makes all the difference :). Tomorrow is Nicci's 1 year mark since her surgery...it's crazy to think we went thru all that an entire year ago. Just think, after all of this, you and David will have grown so much more than you thougt possible. Good luck Sammy, everything will turn out ok!
Okay, it doesn't sound quite so scary after you explained it! That really is great that you found it so early. I totally agree that the internet is great for that kind of thing! We had a doctor tell us that Cohen had scarlet fever one time, so I looked it up online. His rash and symptoms were NOTHING like scarlet fever, and so I went to another doctor who told us he just had viral rash. He told us to put some cream on it and it went away within a few days. I know it's not as serious as your situation, but it's great to have a resource to turn to when us moms know that something's just not right.
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