Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Doernbecher’s again

Israel had another follow up appointment at Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital last week to check his jaw out…and PRAISE GOD… they think his jaw is growing! Growing so well that the plastic surgeon doesn’t see the need for the jaw surgery at this time! THANK YOU JESUS!!! They will continue to reevaluate him every 4 months to just check him and track his progress, but for now…no jaw surgery!


They do however want to perform a more minor surgery on his tongue. I realize I have not elaborated on this much in the past…really because there just wasn’t a whole lot to say about it, but here’s the scoop. Israel’s tongue is tethered. Now this is actually not so uncommon and is easily fixed with just a quick snip. However Israel’s tongue is quite different then the normal case. His is actually tethered all the way to the tip of his tongue and to his lower lip. They call this a tongue/lip adhesion. He currently has no mobility of his tongue. Surgery is possible and relatively quick, comparably to where we were looking at with the jaw surgery. The plastic surgeon will perform the surgery because when she makes the cut, she will have to try and create an underside and a tip of hit tongue, since he currently does not have one. They are wanting to do this sooner rather than later, as there is really no reason to wait. We feel hopeful that this surgery will greatly benefit Israel and that now is the right time. Please be in prayer for him and for us and for the doctors as we await this upcoming surgery. We don’t have a date set yet, but as soon as we do I will be sure and let you all know.

3 comments:

Jenna said...

Im so happy that the tongue thing is a relativly minor procedure, and praise God not jaw surgery for now.
What I think is absolutly AMAZING is that Israel is able to take a bottle, and he was able to nurse!!! What an amazing, smart little guy to figure out his suck with out the movement of his tongue.

J Lannan said...

Good news about his jaw growing.
Hopefully the little surgery will go well. My son is "tongue tied" to almost the tip of his tongue, but it's not that bad. His doctor said that it may be a problem when he starts talking, but it may not be, so we'll just wait until it actually is a problem.

Sharon de L said...

Becca, so glad for this news! Israel is just full of surprises for his team isn't he? :) And of course we want to get some babbling going . . . . you're the expert mom in this area once again. And little Izzy will have so much to say to his big brother and sister once he gets going, remember? Keep in touch!

Sharon de L