Under the Knife

In January, Gryfinn had his tonsils out. I talked about it here and here ~ and probably in a few other posts too. We have a $3200 deductible for our health insurance. And we met that in January due to his surgery. And we joked that if anyone in our family is going to break any bones or need surgery, it will be in 2011. Cause anything else for the rest of the year will be dirt cheap. We should know better than to joke. We really should.

At Jarrod's well check, the dr noticed that he has some scar tissue from his circumcision. Wasn't noticeable until puberty hit, and his body started changing. So he referred us to a pediatric urologist at Children's. We went to the appt, and the dr said he will need to do surgery to correct it. We scheduled his surgery for Aug 9 - so that his baseball season is over and before school is back in. He isn't thrilled about having to have surgery, but he is self conscience of the scar tissue and wants it to be taken care of. He will have gym in the 8th grade, and will have to shower. And for anyone who is against circumcision and wants to say something like 'see, you wouldn't have this problem if you didn't have it done in the first place' - it was my decision to have it done, and I would do it again. And obviously, if he is self conscience of a little bit of scar tissue, how do you think he would feel if he was not circumcised?

A year or so ago, actually, it was probably longer, but anyways, we noticed that Gryfinn's left testicle was all of a sudden quite bigger than his right. So we called the dr's office immediately, concerned, and the dr on call said that it was probably hyrdocele, and that as long as there was no pain to just have his regular dr check it out at his next appt. We mentioned it to the dr, but he wasn't too concerned about it at the time. Well, about a month ago, Kelly was getting Gryfinn ready for school, and she brought him down to me, and said 'Does this look normal to you?' He had a lump on the right side of his groin. I said 'No, it sure doesn't'. So I called the dr, and they got us in. By the time we got to the office, the lump was gone, but the dr said it sounds like a hernia. And with him already having the hyrdocele, he referred us to a surgeon at Children's. I took him to see the surgeon on June 1st. He does have the hydrocele and a bilateral inguinal hernia. His surgery is scheduled for June 29.

I sure know better than to joke. It's like mentioning that the kids have been healthy (which, we have all had colds - so I won't jinx myself this time) and then minutes later, one throws up. That's what happens. And I know better. Even though financially it is better to have surgery or bones set, or whatever else this year - I would rather that they were all just healthy and whole and not have to worry about it. I am nervous about them both having to have surgery. I don't know what their recoveries will be like. I don't want them to hurt, to be in pain. And them being put under anesthetic scares me.