Jack had his appointment yesterday and things went really well. He tolerated a bunch of people touching his head and sticking funny things on it and having his photos taken. Yesterday he saw the anthropologist and the surgeon.
Jack's skull is fused together along the "suture" that runs from the front of the head to the back, the crown. If they do not fix it, there is a good chance that he will have some developmental difficulties.
He will have to have a surgery that will last about 2 and a half hours. The surgeon will make 2 incisions at the front and the back of his head that are about an inch and a half long. He will remove the sliver of bone that has fused and cut four triangle shaped notches in the corners of his skull. Scaring should be minimal. (The doctor said that no one will know that he ever had the surgery as long as he doesn't have my hairline and if he does have my hairline, maybe he will be 6'4".)
He will be in the hospital for 2 days and have to wear a band (or helmet) for about 6 months.
The good news is that he met some very specific criteria in order to have the operation done endoscopicly. 1. He has to be under four months old. 2. We had to have insurance that would pay for the surgery and band 3. We had to live close enough to have his band adjusted weekly.
They were unable to schedule the surgery because the neurosurgeon that the pediatric plastic surgeon works with is booked through September, but the scheduler said that they would make a spot since this HAD to be done in the next six weeks.
A blessing was that while we were waiting for the anthropologist, there was a three year old boy named Scotty also waiting to see the anthropologist. He was our surgeon's first patient to have had this type of procedure done. He had the operation when he was seven weeks old and they had had a great experience. Scotty sat in my mom's lap and let everyone touch his head and full head of hair and look for his scars. His parents were so encouraging and just seeing him so happy and healthy was God's reassurance to us that He is in control and all will be well.
The surgeon is great. Dr. Genecov was very down to earth and explained everything to us in very easy to understand terms. At one point he looked at Kerre's face after having discussed all that would take place, and I think seeing a little trepidation, assured her that he and the neurosurgeon were both parents and treat every child in their care as if they were their own. He was very empathetic to the fact that though this is very normal for him it is far from normal for us. He's a good guy. I knew that he was the right man for the job when I saw the 16x20 autographed portrait of Nolan Ryan with his bloody after his fight with Robin Ventura in his waiting room, but after meeting him he is definitely the man for the job. Jack's in good hands.
So, thanks for your prayers. We will let you know when the surgery is.
