Wednesday, September 8, 2010

It's been 8 months!

Today my baby is 8 months post op. Now most people don't count the months and do comparison photos after their surgery, but since Blue Eyes surgery is and will drastically change what he looks like, I like to do a comparison just to see how far we've come.

Let me remind you what he looked like 8 months ago today.
He had a very tall head and if you could see from above you would see that it is shaped like a football. It was VERY narrow oval shaped.

Some background: When Nathan was born he had a ridge on his skull but the doctors assured us it was normal. They said it was from his fast birth and made me feel it was my fault. As if I did it to his head. At every doctors appointment, the pediatrician continued to assure us the ridge would go away. As his mom, I never noticed that he looked different. Maybe because he was my baby or maybe because I saw him everyday and didn't notice. Finally at 9 months old, his pediatrician sent us for a CT scan. After that was when he was diagnosed with Craniosynostosis. Basically the sutures and soft spots that normal babies have, Blue Eyes didn't. The only fix was major reconstructive surgery. Without the surgery his brain would have no where to go. He could have brain damage, vision loss, and death.

On January 8th he had a Cranial Vault Reconstructive surgery to re-open those sutures and create new soft spots. Doing this surgery drastically changed what he looked like instantly. We almost didn't recognize him (the gauze and bandages didn't help). You can learn more about his recovery in his video here.

Fast forward 8 months to today. Here is what he looks like now.
Notice how round his face is. From above his head is still a little oval but not nearly as narrow. Sometimes you can still see his scars and if you feel his head you can feel the plates and screws. We will still have our ups and downs on the Cranio roller coaster, and possibly more surgeries to come. From his personality you would never know what he had already been through before his first birthday. He is the happiest, funniest, peek-a-boo playing boy around and I am proud to say he is MY cranio baby!

Happy 8 months Blue Eyes! We love you and are so very proud of you!

2 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, what a drastic difference! He is such a cutie and I'm glad things are going well!!

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  2. That is a dramatic difference! That must have been such a mind trip to see your baby change appearance over the course of one surgery.

    I'm sorry the doctors made you feel it was your fault and weren't interested in pursuing it further. That's awful! I'm glad it was diagnosed in time and that he's doing so well now.

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