When Your Baby Faces Surgery

We just got home from the ENT. Before I begin, I have to say I do love the ENT we go to. He’s the same one who saw Jaxon 2 years ago for a similar problem (Jaxon only made noises when he ate) and told us he would grow out of it…which he did. The ENT recognized me and asked about Jaxon and was happy to hear he outgrew his noises (we never went back for a follow up because the noises stopped)

Justin after a rough day today.

He asked about the problem and started talking with big words immediately (this is a teaching hospital so he had a student with him) He checked Justin over and said he has “prominent” ears (I call him my little goblin because of his ears lol) and said if I wanted to “correct” them to put a headband on him or a hat that covers his ears and is tight to hold them back, said it would take about 7 months but they wouldn’t stick out so far. He also said his mouth looks fine with his palate and his ears inside look good (this is good, he goes for a hearing test on Friday).

Then we got down to the nitty gritty…I knew it was coming, he had a camera tube that he stuck up Justin’s nose. I was watching the screen as he talked…I didn’t understand many words but I did understand that SOMETHING was too large and curved and that he was unable to clearly see the vocal chords (but he knew they were there because Justin was SCREAMING!) He told me the name of what’s wrong with Justin, acquired laryngomalacia (no, I didn’t remember that, I had to come home and Google some stuff to figure it out lol) He then asked me about his weight gain, and how he was on the growth chart…honestly, he’s barely on it. He’s 2 1/2 months old and about 10lbs so he’s only gained 3lbs since birth. We’re not MAJORLY concerned about the weight gain, he is gaining and not losing so that’s the big thing. Apparently this problem can cause “failure to thrive” and that along with the random not breathing episodes…he is a candidate for surgery. The surgery is laproscopic (not sure if I spelled that right, but spell check isn’t giving me any suggestions for the correct spelling lol) so he won’t be cut open or anything and it’s only about an hour long.

We’re not jumping into the surgery, we go back in a few weeks to check his growth and see if his breathing is any better…if not, he’ll have surgery within the week. I’m not majorly worried that he’s having surgery, Jeffery and Jaylin both had tubes places and Jaylin had her tonsils and adenoids removed…my issue is that he told me Justin will spend at least 1 night in ICU after surgery and THAT is what scares me. I know it’s best because he will be closely watched while he gets out of anesthesia and they can monitor how his breathing is after surgery, but just the thought of ICU scares me. This is a huge hospital and I trust the doctor and the hospital, but you can imagine how I feel about my BABY having surgery and spending a night in the hospital!

I guess we’ll find out on February 1st if he’s going to have surgery or not. I’m preparing myself for him to need it. UNLESS something happens before and he needs it sooner (ie turning blue, grey or purple, more frequent episodes of not breathing, or anything that makes me think he’s getting worse)

Justin's epiglottis is long and curved instead of flat like this one.

If you would like to read about acquired laryngomalacia here is a link with a little blurb that is pretty easy to understand and here is a link to the surgery he might need. This is the only picture I could find that you can sort of see where the problem is, the epiglottis is long and curved in Justin, from what I saw on the screen it almost looks like a tube when it’s suppose to be flat.