Bits and Bites

I didn't sleep at all Wednesday night. I couldn't fall asleep and I couldn't stay asleep. I finally quit trying around 4:30am and decided to have a shower and get ready to go. We were out the door by 6 am. Kat had been up in the night and my mom had stayed with us. I noticed that she was awake at both 2 and 5 am when I checked. I was worried how everyone would manage.






















"Mom, it's so early - too bright..silly!"

"MOM! Are you kidding me? I don't even know what you're thinking at this point"

Mike dropped Sam and I off at the front doors, it was -47 with the windchill. We grabbed our passes and waited for Daddy to come in.

We got held up a little in security, as they decided to search my diaper bag. Everything came out and/or oddly enough, squeezed. The girl in security kept telling me to step away from the bag - she makes me laugh. Then when she found my makeup case, holy doodles, no one has given me a look like that in a long time. She asked how long we were going for and I told her just a day. She was not impressed that I brought my makeup (which was only about 4 things and one makeup brush). Little did she know, that I was just prepared to bawl my face off at the Children's Hospital later that morning, and wanted to "fix" myself if I needed to. She picked up my creme eye shadow (a 1 oz. tube), looked annoyed and stuffed it in a baggie. Mike was standing behind me and said, "PHEW! Crisis averted!" I don't think she was impressed with us, but he did make me laugh.

Once we were seated on the plane, Sam really woke up. He was interested in everything! He looked out the window, played with the tv - loved it all!

"Seriously Mom, do you have to take a picture every two stinkin' seconds?!'






After take off, Samuel fell asleep and slept through coffee, Bits and Bites, the plane landing, and even running over to rent a car for the day. I held him for an hour and a half, until Mike finished putting the rented carseat into our little red car. We finally left Calgary Airport at 8:10 am. Our appointment was at 9 am.


Traffic was awful! We finally spotted the colorful Hospital at 8:57am (Calgary time). Mike dropped us off and parked the car. The Alberta Children's Hospital is beautiful. It is very honestly like Kid Heaven. There are shops and toys and little playgrounds all over the place. It's so clean and EVERYONE is so very happy to be there.


They had given us the wrong time (9 am instead of 11:30) but said we could still get started. The nurse came in and measured Sam's head. She left right away but said she would be back soon. Sam needed a snack since he finally woke after sleeping for so long. I thought I could get in a quick feed before the doctors came. I was wrong! They came in moments after Sam started. The neurosurgeon and the plastic surgeon AND the cranial facial nurse were there. Since Sam was eating they looked through my little album that I had put together for them. Both started to smile when they reached Sam's birds eye photos. I felt sad, thinking that now they have decided something. They both asked to feel his head. They felt his head and looked carefully at him.


The plastic surgeon did most of the talking. He asked for a time line on all of the events leading up to this. He then told us that Sam has a metopic ridge. But that many healthy children can and do have ridges. He then left Mike and I speechless. He said that whoever wrote up the CT report made a mistake. Samuel does not have Trigonocephaly. They said, that it was misinterpreted and they were very sorry that we went through all of this, because although Sam has ridges - he does not need surgery. He said that the type of diagnosis that Sam has, is very rare and he only sees about 28 kids per year with that type in particular. Sam is not one of those kids.


The photo below was taken moments after Dr.McPhalen's awesome news!! Sam knew!!






Neither one of us could believe what we were hearing. I am so SO relieved. We are so happy for our boy. How often do parents get a diagnosis, wait for a surgery date only to find out that someone made a mistake?! So blessed! I am so tired and thankful that this is over.

This is the last photo we took before we left the Children's Hospital. You can see how nice it is in the background! Doesn't my Sam look happy?!

We all slept so well last night. Today I feel clearer and have had time to digest Dr. McPhalen's words. I am still full of such mixed emotion. I am thankful that he won't be having his surgery. I am sad for the other cranio moms that don't get this relief. We dodged a bullet yesterday - and I know it. And a small part of me is scared that this is temporary relief. Calgary never did receive the actual CT images. They made their decision purely from seeing Sam and what the report said. I wish they had been able to see his scan for themselves. I still have to face the Doctor here knowing that we went against his direction. I do wonder if we had never gone to Calgary, if we would have gone through with the surgery here. I hope that "the experts" are right.

They also saw pics of my Kattie and said, "yeah she does have the ridge - but she looks good too". Maybe a few mysteries have been solved, and maybe still a few things need to be figured out. I do know one thing for sure. I am blessed.