Cutting off all the loose ends....

I guess I had always been uneasy about the baby needing surgery, and if it was self fulfilling prophecy, then baby, I am sorry that I worried so much. But I am glad to see a light at the end of the almost 2 month long tunnel that the surgery left us to struggle through. In the end- all is well.

Last week Baby J and I went to visit Dr. Cartwright, the Pediatric Urologist who performed the baby’s Surgery in January. I must admit I was a little worried as the site of the surgery was red and bumpy and, for the past few weeks, I had been noticing a long string attached to the area, (in fact, I accidentally pulled the string one day while I was changing a diaper, there was weeping and wailing afterwards) I don’t know about you, but I thought that Dissolving stitches disappeared, and so a long string was worrying to me. Add to that, the fact that skin had fallen off the surgical site, followed by the fun with bleeding we experienced…..I was a little concerned that the doctor would take one look at my baby, turn to me and ask “So, do you take care of your son at all?”

(Baby J, getting ready for his surgery follow up)

Guess what, he didn’t. The doctor came in the room, asked if we had had any further problems with bleeding and let me know that the Hematologists had informed him of the von Willebrand’s diagnosis, and then the diaper came off. He looked for a few seconds, announced that everything looked good, but there was a string that he could easily take care of, and then asked me if I had any questions. “Why is the skin red and bumpy?” “Oh, that is pretty normal after a circumcision. It may fade as time goes on.” “Why is there a string?” “Sometimes Dissolving Stitches don’t dissolve as fast as we would like. I will trim this down, it is nothing to worry about.”
I felt so much better after that 5 minute doctor visit, it was amazing. We may never need to go back to the Pediatric Urologist, well, Baby J may never need to go back. We have a 10% chance of future sons having Hypospadias. But now we know what to expect- and to test them for Von Willebrand’s prior to surgery.

Speaking of von Willebrand’s, today we are going to the Hematology/Oncology department of Primary Children’s Hospital. We will spend at least 3 hours there (I hope they have a TV, three hours could get boring). Why so long? They want to make sure the Medication which will be prescribed prior to future surgeries will actually work. The simple explanation of what the medication does is this- von Willebran’s factor is stored in the blood vessel itself, and the medication forces the blood vessel to push out as much as possible into the blood stream. So they will draw blood tests, to see his level before medication, give him the medication, and then wait 3 hours and draw blood tests again. Hopefully all will go well, if so, we will be out of the tunnel and into the light, just in time for spring.

(Baby J during piano practice this morning, piano practice comes right after- lets throw the toys around practice)


I love Spring!