Mary was born with a 'prominent lingual frenulum' (for all you current and future doctors), also known as 'tongue-tied' (for everyone else!). Basically she couldn't stick her tongue out (which may not be all bad) because her frenulum connected to the front of her tongue. One pediatrician said to clip it only if it affected her speech or her eating. Another pedicatrician said, 'clip it'. And the ENT said it's up to you. We decided to clip it. So at 6:30 this morning Mary and I headed to the surgery center for her frenulectomy.
Here she is in her hospital gown all ready for surgery, blissfully unaware of what the next hour would hold.
The anesthesiologist allowed me to hold her while they put her to sleep which was quite unnerving. One minute she is screaming because they are pressing a mask to her face and the next minute she is limp and unresponsive. She even kept her eyes open long enough that they asked me if she slept with her eyes open. Creepy. She did fabulously. The procedure took all of about 3 minutes, I think. Almost as soon as they walked me to the waiting room, they called me back to talk to the doctor and about 5 minutes later I got to go back to recovery.
Here we are just before leaving. Just a little groggy and dopey and with a really itchy nose from some narcotic drops they gave her. She drank that bottle while we sat in recovery and then lost the entire bottle all over the kitchen floor at home. I didn't get a picture of her sticking out her tongue, but the other kids were quite excited that she could !
Here she is in her hospital gown all ready for surgery, blissfully unaware of what the next hour would hold.
The anesthesiologist allowed me to hold her while they put her to sleep which was quite unnerving. One minute she is screaming because they are pressing a mask to her face and the next minute she is limp and unresponsive. She even kept her eyes open long enough that they asked me if she slept with her eyes open. Creepy. She did fabulously. The procedure took all of about 3 minutes, I think. Almost as soon as they walked me to the waiting room, they called me back to talk to the doctor and about 5 minutes later I got to go back to recovery. 
Here we are just before leaving. Just a little groggy and dopey and with a really itchy nose from some narcotic drops they gave her. She drank that bottle while we sat in recovery and then lost the entire bottle all over the kitchen floor at home. I didn't get a picture of her sticking out her tongue, but the other kids were quite excited that she could !
6 comments:
Ah, sweet little Mary. What a trooper. Plus, she can really carry off a hopital gown.
She's SO pretty! Glad the surgery was a success.
Eric has the same tongue thing. He never had his clipped though! I always tease him because he can't stick out his tongue or lick his lips very well!
Mary looks SO grown up! Glad it went well!
Joey was the same way. We had it clipped last July. He did really good. It was very fast, and as soon as he woke up, he gulped the bottle down, and we left (it's a 90 minute drive for us). He slept the whole way home. I gave him some pain meds that night, and maybe the next day, but he was good. I am glad Mary's siblings think it's cool!!
Hailey went through the same ordeal. Looks like we might have another kid with the same defect. Hope all is well. From your blog I now know you dogged us to visit with other friends.
Good for Mary. What a brave girl.
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