{"id":57161,"date":"2015-06-15T06:31:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-15T06:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xenodochial-archimedes.45-76-20-142.plesk.page\/2015x106x1cranio-versary\/"},"modified":"2022-11-29T18:28:16","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T18:28:16","slug":"cranio-versary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/2015\/06\/cranio-versary.html","title":{"rendered":"Cranio-versary – Mrs. Bishop"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve shared a little bit about my little guy\u2019s surgery before. But not much. It was hard to talk about for a long time. Because it was so scary, and the unknown was too much. But, now that we\u2019re on the other side of it all, it\u2019s so much easier to share.<\/p>\n

My son was born with metopic craniosynostosis.<\/p>\n

A mouthful, right?<\/p>\n

There was a time I couldn\u2019t even spell that word\u2026until it became a huge part of our lives. So here, on the 3 year anniversary of my tiny baby boy\u2019s surgery, I\u2019d like to share a little about cranio with you.<\/p>\n

According to the\u00a0Mayo Clinic website<\/a>, \u201cCraniosynostosis (kray-nee-o-sin-os-TOE-sis) is a birth defect in which one or more of the joints between the bones of your baby\u2019s skull close prematurely, before your baby\u2019s brain is fully formed.\u201d My little guy had metopic, which means that his skull was fused at his forehead.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Wikipedia<\/a>, cranio occurs in 1 in 2000 births. So, it\u2019s like we hit the most terrible sort of lottery.<\/p>\n

We found out about his cranio when he was a few weeks old. We met with neurosurgeons and plastic surgeons, neurologists and geneticists. We spent countless hours at appointments, watching our tiny baby get poked and prodded.<\/p>\n

We learned a little more about the surgery than we wanted to know\u2026they were going to remove our sons skull, break it apart, and put it back together with dissolving plates and screws.<\/p>\n

When they showed us a model of a skull, and started taking pieces off of it to explain the surgery, I felt sick. I couldn\u2019t listen to the doctor anymore. I couldn\u2019t look at my husband. I wanted to take my itty bitty boy and run as far away as I could. I wanted to shelter him from this horror that I couldn\u2019t even begin to fathom him going\u00a0through.<\/p>\n

But, I didn\u2019t. I knew it was best for him. I knew he was a fighter.<\/p>\n

So, at 4 months old, we handed our barely 10lb baby over to a nurse, and waited for 4 hours while the doctors worked their magic. I was scared, there aren\u2019t words to describe how I was feeling. I prayed and prayed and prayed some more. The hours dragged on as we waited.<\/p>\n

But, then they called us back. The doctors were shaking hands and patting each other on the back. And smiling. And I knew it was okay. He did great. Perfect surgery. No complications.<\/p>\n

So, we went to meet our new and improved little guy, with the perfectly shaped head. He looked so different, but I could tell it was going to get a lot better.<\/p>\n

The 4 day recovery in the hospital was rough, but the nurses were amazing (We LOVE\u00a0Peyton Manning Children\u2019s Hospital<\/a>) and our little guy was stronger than his parents. The swelling was scary, but our little man was still smiling at us. The days passed quickly, and we were ready to go home, our baby with the new noggin and his terrified parents.<\/p>\n

So, on his 3 year Cranio-versary, I\u2019d like to say to any parents getting ready to begin this roller coaster of a journey\u2026you can do it. Your kiddo is so much stronger than you can imagine. Way stronger than you. And I never could have imagined how resilient kids are, and how quickly they recover and bounce right back. Hindsight is 20-20. So, I can tell you from experience. They can do this. You can do this. You\u2019ll get through this.<\/p>\n

Here are some photos from our experience. Some are slightly graphic and scary, but I just wanted to share this journey with you.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"cranio1\"<\/a>
Right before surgery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"cranio2\"<\/a>
Right after surgery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"cranio3\"<\/a>
Swelling that first day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"cranio4\"<\/a>
Swelling the next night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"cranio5\"<\/a>
3rd day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"cranio6\"<\/a>
His first smile post-op.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"cranio7\"<\/a>
Giggling at Mommy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"cranio8\"<\/a>
So happy to see again!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"cranio9\"<\/a>
Right after we got home.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"cranio10\"<\/a>
Healing up nicely.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you or anyone you know is about to start this journey, please share this story with them. I always felt so much better reading success stories. It soothes a Momma\u2019s soul to see that everything it going to be alright. Also, have them check out\u00a0Cranio Care Bears<\/a>, an amazing organization started by 2 cranio Momma\u2019s that sends care packages to kiddos about to undergo cranio surgery. It\u2019s such a sweet and thoughtful gift to receive, and a wonderful resource for parents.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve shared a little bit about my little guy\u2019s surgery before. But not much. It was hard to talk about for a long time. Because it was so scary, and the unknown was too much. But, now that we\u2019re on the other side of it all, it\u2019s so much easier to share. My son was born with metopic craniosynostosis. A mouthful, right? There was a time I couldn\u2019t even spell that word\u2026until it became a huge part of our lives. So here, on the 3 year anniversary of my tiny baby boy\u2019s surgery, I\u2019d like to share a little <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":58737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cranio","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}