Friday, March 06, 2009

Madhouse Days

It's one of those days when I feel as if we live in a madhouse. The kids are all being very well-behaved (for once!), but hours of running around here and there is making me loony!

Violet had her appointment with the ENT today. Shawn met me at the doctor's since I had Jamie and Simon with me as well (Clare being at school). The doctor examined Violet again, and after forcefully pushing her tongue up and around with thick-gloved hands, Violet graced him with the biggest grin we have seen yet! Dr. Z went over our options again and the pros and cons associated with each option - either release the tongue right then in the office with a topical anesthetic, have it done under general anesthesia in the hospital, or continue to do nothing and see if Violet has problems in the future. Given the speech and feeding problems we currently face with Clare (although we do acknowledge that Clare's low muscle tone contributes to those issues as well) and that we would rather avoid general anesthesia if we can, we chose option one and had Violet's tongue clipped immediately.

I was shocked how easy the procedure was and how well Violet did! Dr. Z warned us that the topical anesthetic tasted horrible (he applied it under her tongue using a cotton swab) - Violet never made a face or sound and even appeared to be trying to taste it. Then Dr. Z warned us that Violet would probably cry once he clipped the skin and would bleed for a few seconds. Violet did neither of those things. No crying, not even flinching and no blood at all! Dr. Z was even able to clip the skin a good ways back under her tongue, so Violet should not have any trouble in the future. The entire appointment lasted about 17 minutes. I am so glad we were able to get this procedure done with little fuss.

Violet is already starting to lose her "lizard tongue," although Dr. Z said it may never truly go away because that's how Violet's tongue was formed. But it has rounded out a bit so far!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's great news! Praise God that it went so easily!
Stacy

Tes said...

oh my gosh i was actually tense when i was reading that, but thankful all turned out well.

Aunt Joan said...

It is just amazing how well these littles ones do!! Thank God everything went well and Violet will never know the difference!

Noel said...

Great news! I am glad things went well.

Dawn Low said...

For whatever reason, Sawyer's ENT refused to do the in-office clipping when he was a newborn. We were told he would have to go under anesthesia at the hospital-- even before we knew about the Williams I had no desire to submit him to that. We see his new ENT this month and I will see what she thinks about clipping his tongue now (I don't know that he needs it anymore). I am so glad to hear that Violet did so well!!

The Page Family said...

Hi...my duagher was just diagnosed with WS in Nov...still learning about everything and LOVE discovering new blogs and stories like ours! I will add your link to my page! :)

Laura said...

Glad it all went well!