Craniosynostosis
Wednesday, 8 February, 2006
General | 笔者: Earthtone
This is a condition whereby the skull of an infant, which is made up of 4 pieces fused together earlier than they should. In the natural course of things, babies are born with 4 skull plates. these plates are separate and will gradually merge only as they grow old, maybe at age 2-3. Craniosynostosis is the condition whereby babies are born with already merged skull. The concern is it may hamper the growth of the brain and in turn the baby’s general development.
My dear Baobao has it.
I was totally shocked when I learnt about it. It was first detected when I was 7 month pregnant. When at a visit to the obsterician, the obs began to peer very carefully at the ultra sound. I was a bit scared the way he was looking at the scan. It look like something was not right. He said that my baby’s head was unusually oval. Very oval. So he suggested we go for a detailed scan, which basically is a ultrscan too but in a lot more detail than the one he does at his clinic.
We were worried sick and I began to cry at the foodcourt outside the obs’s office. I was thinking what if baby’s not normal. I was thinking Downs Syndrome. On the one hand, I was apprehensive about having to take care of a special child for life. On the other, I was crying for the poor baby, thinking about the kind of looks he was going get for his life, being a special kid.
But something inside me, ie Baobao, was assuring me, ” Mommy, it’s okay, I’m normal”
That’s the way Baobao had been in my tummy. He always gave me strength. This message he sent was very strong. Partly also I was eating normal and his movement felt very normal. Believe it or not, even though he couldn’t talk to me inside, whenever I spoke to him, I could ‘feel’ his reply. Sometimes we would communicate a lot of love between us. Remember I said in an earlier post he told me he is a boy very early in my pregnancy? And, when he was 4-5 months in my stomach, Ah Por was adimited to SGH for pneumonia, which was life threatening. Baobao encouraged me in my stomach. Even though I was beginning to be heavy, I was able to visit Ah Por everyday at the hospital after work. He gave me strength.
The detailed scan confirmed Baobao’s head was unusually oval, but still say it’s ‘ok’. We were majorly relieved and happily continued with our pregnancy.
Even after birth, the pediatrician did not raise alarm on this. On the second day after birth, when my obs came to see me at my bed, he mentioned very casually ” Did you ask the pd about his head shape?” I said no, and we made a small joke out of it, thinking it was really nothing.
When Baobao was 5 days old, we went to the pd’s clinic for checkup. I asked the pd about his head, the pd felt his head, and commented it should not be a problem. However, he had jaundice and was readmitted for phototheraphy.
On the day Baobao was to be discharged from hospital for his jaundice, the pd wanted to talk to us before we leave. After a series of missing each other’s calls, I was getting a little impatient. I thought, “Just let me take my boy and leave, his jaundice is cured.”
Finally when we got to talk, the pd told me he would like to refer Baobao to a specialist at KK Women and Children Hospital to check his head. I asked that if Baobao looks and is behaving normally, eats and sleeps well, can we let it pass? He advised we just go and check it out. I was abit frustrated. By my maternal instinct, Baobao’s fine. I thought if we are going for this checkup, it’s just to rest the pd’s mind more than ours.
He gave us a referral letter. I had the mind not the attend the appointment. But when I read the letter, he mentioned about suspecting Baobao to have “craniosynostosis”, we thought we better play it safe since he even had a name for what he suspected.
Before I attended the appointment, I made a mental note to never succumb my boy to any invasive tests or procedures. Not at his age.
I strolled into the Craniofacial Centre at KK hospital with my mom on the day of the appointment, pretty sure my babe’s ok. Until we were seated before the doctor. He didn’t even take more than a second look, and he confirmed Baobao did have the condition. And a surgery to correct it is unavoidable
I was devastated. What?! I said no invasive tests, I definitely was not prepared for surgery! I nearly cried infront of the doctor out of shock and dismay. You would too, if you know your baby’s gonna be cut up on the head.
However he assured me the chances of correcting this birth defect is 98%. By the time Baobao’s 7 and with hair grown, no one would ever know he had gone under the knife before. And I dunno why this so comforting, but it is when this is classified as plastic surgery. Incidentally, they also perform cleft lips surgery at this Craniofacial Centre.
I have to specially mention the dctor we saw. He is a senior consultant and he is damn cool. In his late 30s or early 40s, he’s so cool and confident he looks like he just walked out of the movie shang hai tan. Utterly steady. Even my mom says he looks like some underworld society godfather..haha… Coincidentally, he is my obs’s cousin, and he wanted to scold him for not detecting and refering my Baobao’s case to him earlier.
He didn’t leave it as an option for me as in to do or not to do the surgery, he simply insisted the surgery should be performed. His confidence boosted mine.
In the course of my birthing of Baobao, I have met three specialist doctors. After seeing the obsterician and paediatrician, I have the feeling that doctors these days, even specialists do not dare to assume too much responsibilities. They do not dare to make decisions for patients. They present various options and maybe highlight the risks to us or ‘advise’ us but at the end of the day, we patients are to make our own decisions. See also Ah Por’s case. I bet there’s some kind of subject in medical schools on this.
But Dr Yeow is different. He gave his professional opinion and asserted the right course of action for what he believes in. This is very rare. It takes experience and courage for a doctor to do that.
I have since surfed the net for similar cases and it seems the prognosis is good, as promised by Dr Yeow.