Second Surgery

Dear Conor,

Today we went for a ride with Dad for his work but we also had to go into Portland for your appointment with the ENT.  I was very nervous for this appointment because I wasn't sure what to expect.  The nurse that brought us into the room was very sweet and she explained what the doctor needed to do to examine you and at what points we should expect to hear you cry.  Then she got you all set up in the big chair.  You looked so tiny in the big chair because they kept you in your carseat the whole time.

After the nurse got you settled the doctor came in to check you out.  You did not like him sticking the Q-tip or his fingers under your tongue and you cried just as the nurse said you would.  He said that your tongue-tie was not severe but it was also not so minimal that he would suggest that nothing be done.  You had a moderate case that we could choose to have it cut or we could wait it out and see if it stretched or if it ended up impacting your speech.  If we needed to have it cut later it would likely need to be done in a hospital setting as the older a child gets the harder it is to cut it in the office because they squirm!

Your Dad and I decided that we didn't want to take that chance because it seemed more traumatic to potentially place you under anesthesia when you are a toddler to have something done that we could easily have done now and not have to live in constant wonder.  So, we told the doctor we would like to have it done while you were still little.  Little did we know that he was going to do it that day!

A little bit of numbing agent was applied to the underside of your tongue and then after a minute he snipped the little membrane and it was over - or so I thought.  There was a bit of blood and the doctor wanted to be sure it clotted before you left the office so he applied a clotting agent to the cut marks (it turned silver and remains there for a while).  He cleaned up your little face and then it was time to go.

I promise - it looks worse than it actually was - you kept spitting little bits of retained blood out at a time.



We saw improvements in your tongue action pretty quickly.  You were moving your tongue a lot more and sticking it out further than you ever had before.  Also, when you had dinner you stayed latched on much better. 

I am so proud of how strong you are - you didn't cry during your first surgery and you didn't cry during this one and you recovered nicely from both as well.

xoxo
Mom