It’s one of those moments I am so glad to be a work at home mom. Gage just turned one month old yesterday, and we found out that he will probably have to have surgery to fix his scaphocephaly. Some of the sutures in his skull closed prematurely, which is making his head grow long and narrow. It’s a pretty scary thought that my tiny baby might have to have surgery on his head, but both the pediatric neurosurgeon and the websites I’ve visited have been very reassuring. That’s a rare treat, getting reassurance online. It seems like so many medical sites make fears worse.
This surgery is probably going to make life difficult for a year. Gage will probably have to wear a helmet for a year after, with weekly adjustments. Thank goodness I don’t have to schedule appointments around my work schedule!
Am I scared or nervous? You bet! But I’m doing my best to be calm around Gage and Ariel. I particularly don’t want Ariel worried, as she’s young enough to get excessively worried. Gage is young enough he probably wouldn’t notice anything.
We’ll be going in for a CT scan in the next couple weeks, and once that confirms the diagnosis, we’ll be looking at surgery dates, I think.
Sometimes I don’t know how I’m going to cope with everything, but I know I will. The flexibility working at home gives me makes things much more possible. It’s of course also more motivation to build my business now so that I need to do medical transcription less.
I hope all goes well with the surgery. How exactly is the bone already attached? Does he still have the soft spot?
Our kids lose the soft spot so much sooner that other kids, it even worried the midwife until I reassured her that they all did that and they are all fine.
Basically, the plates that should still be separate on top of his skull are fused already. Gage has a slight ridge there, which is one of the indicators the neorologist looked for on the x-ray.
No soft spot that I can find. The soft spot was very easy to find when my daughter was a baby, so this is different for us.
It’s my understanding that even without sutgery, most kids will be ok with this condition. They’re at risk for pressure on the brain, which can cause a range of problems, however.