Friday, December 11, 2009

My Little Buddy's Little Buddy

I don't know which one of us is more traumatized, Henry who was circumcised today at the ripe old age of 17 months, or me, who is responsible for my little man's trauma.

The NICU where Henry spent the first month or so of his life doesn't circumcise babies, so we were left to fend for ourselves in the boy parts department. After Henry was discharged our pediatrician referred us to a pediatric urologist for a consult. I talked to the doctor and did my own research, as Heather has put all things related to boy parts under my responsibility. I determined that an uncircumcised penis is about as common in Alabama as a blizzard. We have snow, but people freak out when they see it. I didn't want my son's penis to receive the same reaction.

We went to the urologist the first time when Henry was really little, probably right around his due date. His little fella wasn't ready to be worked on yet because the skin was not fully attached. That problem resolved itself, but by the time he was ready, he had to have general anesthesia. To do general anesthesia on an outpatient basis we had to wait until Henry was a year old. So we waited.

When the surgery was scheduled the first time, Henry got his first and only diaper rash, which turned into a strep infection. Our next available appointment was today.

Here is our little guy getting ready for the procedure.






He is pleasantly oblivious despite being: up at 5:00 a.m.; alone without his sisters; and dressed in a hospital gown at a hospital.

The procedure went as planned and I feel comfortable that we had a skilled craftsman at the helm. Our doctor fixes a lot of botched circumcisions. That, at least, would indicate that he knows how it could go wrong. He also did Rosemary's hernia repair, which went well - with no scars.

Henry after the procedure.






Happy, given the circumstances, and high. Very high, actually. We now know that Henry purses his lips when intoxicated. That may come in handy in 16 years if he still does it.





We've kept Henry on lortab since he got home, so he's been comfortable for the most part. My trauma came when we changed his diaper for the first time. The sight was horrifying. I haven't eaten since then, about 11 hours ago. I really don't know if I will. Like ever. I'm just sick to my stomach. As soon as we saw it, I called the nurse and described what we saw. The nurse said that was normal and agreed that it usually looks pretty bad afterward. If I had known what it would look like, I don't know if I could have gone through with it even though I had convinced myself we were doing what was best for him. I really feel horrible and now I'm second guessing myself.

My guilt is going to translate into a whole lot of baby spoiling this weekend. Hopefully my little buddy will feel better and look better soon.

6 comments:

  1. I just cried for your little buddy.

    Now I need some spoiling.

    Off to StarBucks.

    (BTW--you know he's fine---and you did do the right thing. The baby spoiling will help. Get yourself and YoMomma a little something while you're at it! You all deserve it after that ordeal!)

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  2. Listen, take this posting of yours down ASAP. The longer it's up, the more likely it is to be archived forever by Google and other entities. You boy WILL be able to see that you had access to the internet and all the perfectly clear reasons not to circumcise when you did this to him. He needs to hear it from you, not discover it before you can apologize.

    Today about half of US infants are being left intact, so he'd be odd to somebody sometime no matter which choice you made.

    The bottom line is that it was HIS choice. The foreskin includes over half the sensual pleasure receptive nerve endings. It protects the glans from drying and abrasion and it gives an AWESOME frictionless rolling/gliding action during intimacy that cut guys will just never understand.

    You owe it to him to SAVE EVERYTHING related to this: all medical records, your own notes and thoughts about why it was done. HE deserves the richest possible resources when he turns 18 and needs to decide who to sue. Your doctor is the one who let him down. He obviously didn't tell you enough about the value of normal genitals as enjoyed by 4/5 of the world's males. There will be no diagnosis of defect or pathology warranting this amputation, and that is clear by the fact that it was not an emergency and whatever the medical hold-up was, it cleared up so you could proceed with elective surgery.

    The facility where the amputation was allowed and any insurer who paid for any part of it are also on the hook so make sure he has no trouble finding them. Photocopy everything, put all the originals into a big envelope and take it to a safe-deposit box.

    In the meantime, study up on non-surgical foreskin restoration, which he can pursue as soon as he's old enough to ask what the hell's wrong with his penis.

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  3. @TLC 'TUGGER':

    So sorry you are unhappy with your penis. Not everyone shares your obvious dissapointment.

    It occurs to me that you might spend less time tugging on your junk; posting useless and unsolicited information on family blogs and instead perhaps seek professional treatment, in order that you may find the answer to that very question for your own self. [What the hell *is* wrong with your penis?]

    Good luck with that.

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  4. Tugger,

    Thanks for stopping by my blog and trying to make me feel like an A-hole. My son is doing much better today, in case you were wondering.

    I am aware of the vast amount of information on the internet of people who like foreskins. I read a lot of it in making my decision. Clearly, I didn’t find it accurate or persuasive.

    I don’t think you deserve any more information, but I’ll tell you anyway. My best information came from my father. He lived most of his adult life uncircumcised and then developed some problems. He was circumcised about 15 years ago. He told me in detail, more than anyone really needs to know about one’s father, that he was very pleased with the outcome. He had it both ways and likes it better now. I was lucky to have someone close to me who had that experience.

    You obviously feel strongly about this, devoting so much of your free time to foreskins and foreskin restoration. I’m cool with that, even if I don’t agree. It’s good to be passionate about something. I do think you are rude, however, in making your comment after the foreskin horse had left the foreskin barn and I was feeling bad about it. Fortunately, I am better now, and have no desire to get on a plane, fly to Chicago and pull your foreskin over your head.

    Rock on with your foreskin, Tugger.

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  5. Dear BGiPP,

    The following equation eloquently expresses the feelings of 99% of women:

    uncircumcised = sooo gross

    Tug THAT?! No thanks.

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  6. Look, I don't want to say that TLC Tugger is weird, I just think it's entirely possible his house has a kiddie porn dungeon.

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