Universal Children’s Day 2014: Celebrating the Courage of a Baby During Surgery

The United Nations Universal Children’s Day 2014 falls on 20 November

“We were all children once. And we all share the desire for the well-being of our children, which has always been and will continue to be the most universally cherished aspiration of humankind,” the UN said in statement issued ahead of the day.

Craniosynostosis – the coronal suture has prematurely fused

My ten month old grandson is a happy, quick, engaging little fellow who was born with the plates of his skull fused together prematurely. As a result, he had major surgery to cut the plates and reshape his head which has grown lopsided. Emmett’s surgery was on Wednesday Nov. 19 at 9am Eastern Standard Time. The surgery will took 8 hours

Details of the surgery are as follows: an incision is made from ear to ear, the skull is removed from the orbital bone to the centre of the head. After the neurosurgeon removes a piece of his skull that has fuse prematurely, a plastic surgeon will reshape the skull.  Then the surgeon will put it  back together using plates and screws which are made of a dissoluble substance. They use between 150-200 screws. There is a 50/50 chance Emmett will need a blood transfusion.

He will be in ICU for the first 24 hours, completely sedated and unconscious and then moved to a room on Thursday evening. He will be in Children’s Hospîtal of Eastern Ontario ( CHEO) for 5-7 days.

We have been for warned that there will be significant swelling. Emmett’s eyes will most likely be swollen shut for the first few days after surgery. His arms will be bandaged to splints and immobile so he cant’ touch his face and head Recovery time is approximately 6-8 weeks and he may have to wear a helmet (this will be decided post-op)

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Here are images after surgery so far in the morning he looked great by night the swelling started to set in- but after HUNDREDS of prayers, Emmett is thriving. Emmett needed less morphine than usual and rather than being put into a coma, he SLEPT all night- the nurse in ICU has never seen this before. He did have a blood transfusion, but all is well. We’ve been warned that the next 4-5 days are going to be rough and his head is going to swell a lot, most/worse swelling by Friday. Thank you everyone for all your support and prayers.

Thank you everyone