Out of all the kids, Danny is the one who started talking at the earliest age. We discovered a while ago that he is also the only one of us who is clinically tongue-tied! Despite being an excellent nurser from birth, I realized less than a year ago that Danny was unable to stick out his tongue like the rest of us- the tongue would only point down, and I could never see the tip of it. His pediatrician confirmed that he was, in fact, tongue-tied (a condition in which one has an unusually thick, short frenulum, the membrane that connects the floor of the mouth to the underside of the tongue), but said it was possible that it wouldn’t affect his speech. However, as time went on and Danny’s vocabulary increased tremendously, my ability to understand him wasn’t necessarily keeping up. We consulted an ENT who recommended performing a frenulectomy, which is a minor outpatient procedure where the surgeon snips the frenulum to release the front of the tongue. After much prayer and consideration, we decided to go forward. And so, last Thursday was the last time Danny’s tongue would do this (see how the end is slightly forked and points downward):
I bundled him up in the zero degree weather, complete with his beloved backpack holding a blanket, a toy puppy and several ATVs. Here he is at the reception check-in:
And here he is during the pre-operative procedure. He was so brave!
Both he and I held it together until the nurse took him out of my arms to bring him into the operating room where they would put him under general anesthesia – he started to wail, and I lost it! (I’m still tearing up thinking about it – those mommy/child separations are so hard, even when we know it’s in the child’s best interest!). But the procedure was over in a manner of minutes, and the doctor came out to tell me that the tongue tie had been more extensive than he originally thought, so it was a good thing we decided to get it cut. Danny woke up understandably cranky and miserable, and so I cuddled him in the recovery room as the kind nurse brought us ice pop after ice pop. Between that and the ATVs, we eventually calmed him down, even though he kept moaning, pointing to his mouth and saying, “Oww…my tongue hurts.” Poor kiddo! But we were home just over an hour after the procedure, and Danny and I cuddled the rest of the morning. It was nice for both of us!
And by the evening, thanks to his siblings’ antics and his Grammie and Grandpa’s balloons and his Bubba and Pappy’s new toy tractor, Danny was once again all smiles! (And so was his mommy!). 😉
~Had no idea.~ I almost cried when I read that you cried. Had to be difficult to see him go through this! Great to have it corrected!! Hugs and kisses to Danny. (Pic’s so cute…handsome little guy resting on sofa)
We had to do general anethesia with Oliver when he turned 2 for a 2 hour procedure. I kept it together (sort of) until the end and they brought us into recovery and I totally lost it. Glad he is doing well!
Sarah, I was thinking about you and Oliver! I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to wait for a two-hour procedure. You and Oliver are both heroes in my book! 🙂
So now that it’s been a little while, how has Danny’s speech changed? Did it make a big difference?!
Lauri, thanks for asking! Actually, Danny has gotten a bit harder to understand. The doctor thinks it’s because he doesn’t know how to control the extra tongue that’s flopping around in there. 😉 So he referred us for a speech therapy evaluation. We’ll see what happens!