We had been dreading this November day for weeks ever since his parents’ difficult decision to go through with the operation. A few months earlier Rider was diagnosed with ectopic craniosynostosis, a condition in which his two forehead parts had fused together too soon. An infant’s skull is made of several pieces of bone that are designed to be able to expand as the brain grows, but not the two that made up Rider’s forehead. They had fused too soon. Doctors determined that he had suffered no brain damage and likely wouldn’t, but that his face and head would appear increasingly abnormal as he grew up. Though we all realized this reconstructive surgery was necessary, it didn’t make it any easier.
By the time we arrived at the Upper Eastside NYC hospital at 7:30 (after waking up at 5 a.m. to catch the train in time), Rider and his parents and an aunt had been there already for a couple of hours. He needed to be thoroughly examined to make sure he was infection free. His little body would need every ounce of its strength to get through the surgery. This type of operation, involving a cut from ear to ear across the top of his head, peeling down the scalp to reveal his skull, then cutting, removing, reshaping and replacing the pieces of his forehead, has a very good track record, but it still scared us for Rider to be under the knife. Continue reading
