Benton Licks Minor Surgery...

As many of you know, on Tuesday Benton underwent
a triple procedure surgery. All three parts were considered
minor procedures that his doctors kept saying they'd like
to perform if ever Benton was put under anesthesia. So
instead of waiting for a big, more major surgical procedure
(thankfully, nothing like that is currently on the books),
we decided to coordinate these more minor procedures
into one. Many of you have asked how it all went and how
Benton is doing, so this post is for you!

Here's Benton in his gown, waiting to be taken back for
surgery. We think he knew what was about to happen...
he was in a horrible mood. Daddy tried his best to calm
him, and he finally fell asleep.


Benton first had a frenulectomy performed of the lingual
and upper langua frenula. That means they clipped the
skin that was tightly tethering his tongue and his upper lip.
When these frenula are too tight, they can present problems
with speech development and oral feeding. We all know
Benton struggles in these two areas anyway, but we don't
want to further inhibit development. A tight upper langua
frenulum can also affect a smile as a child grows.

Here's a shot of Benton's mouth the night we returned
from the hospital. You can see the first stitches under the
tongue and between the upper lip/upper gum. Anyone
want a kiss? Now French kisses are on the menu! ;-)


After the frenulectomy, which took about 15 minutes and
left him with 10 stitches, Benton had a 90-minute BAER
hearing test. BAER stands for brainstem auditory evoked
response. The test detects electrical activity in the cochlea
and auditory pathways in the brain. Results summary:
Benton's ears are working just fine! This is great news for
us. What is left undetermined is how Benton's brain
processes the information received from his ears.

The third and final procedure was a 60-minute brain MRI.
It's been quite some time since Benton had an MRI, so his
neurologist thought it'd be a good idea to get a current
look at his noggin to see if any changes are apparent. The
Genetics team also drew some blood during the MRI to use
for testing purposes (they still continue to search for a
diagnosis).

Hours later, we got to see our little boy again. Understandably,
he was quite out of it. Here he is, safe again in Daddy's lap.


Benton seems to be recovering nicely at home. He doesn't
appear to be in too much pain, and he's moving his
tongue around quite a bit. The stitches should dissolve
within a week, and he's already stuffing burp rags, toys,
and everything else he can touch into his mouth. We're
not sure when we'll have the MRI results, but we hope
to get word within the next week or so.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers, well wishes, concern,
and love for Benton!