Wow. I've really been remiss in journaling. Those of you have little ones yourself probably understand. There has been so much going on that this will be a long post. So grab some coffee and have a seat. . .

MEDICAL: SURGERY POSTPONED

As mentioned in a prior post, Mikey was scheduled to have surgery the first of September. About a week before surgery we received a call stating our urologist had moved to Denver and Mikey was getting a new doctor. You can imagine how shocked we were. (We were so very pleased with our urologist, and those of you in Denver are lucky to have him.) After an initial freak-out phase, we prayed about it and realized the new urologist must have been placed in our path for a reason, so we received some much needed peace.

We made an appointment to meet the doctor so surgery day wouldn't be the first time for all of us. We went in on a Monday with the expection that surgery would be on Wednesday. During the examination the doctor felt that Mikey's penis was not big enough for this next surgery. (As a reminder, this is where the new uthrea is being built; the current opening is being closed; the new opening is being formed; the penis is being closed along the shaft - it's currently butterflied; the circumcism is being completed; and the scrotum repair is being completed.)

We had a choice of going forward with the surgery and its increased risk of everything not working properly (there would be the potential for Mikey to not urinate out of the tip, but out of both openings; as well as the possitility of everything opening back up), or waiting. My first thought was that I didn't want to wait because I really don't want Mikey to remember ANY of this when he's older, but I also didn't want to subject him to any more surgery than necessary. We talked for a few minutes and the doctor recommended testosterone (T) treatments.

I'll digress a moment and mention that I had been reading where some endos were recommending T treatment for XXY boys. It's a short cycle of about three shots of a very low dosage. Basically, it's enough to tell the penis to grow. It's a bit controversial, but seems to be gaining some popularity. Usually this is done when the boy is very young, so I had assumed our "window" had passed and never brought it up with our endo.

We agreed to the T treatment and set a new surgery date of October 22.

MEDICAL: THE T ADVENTURE

We received our T Rx and left the doctor's office to get it filled. The first pharmacy couldn't read the Rx and had to call the doctor to verify. She hand wrote her notes all over the Rx. After a few minutes, she came back and stated she didn't have the correct T, so she sent us up the street.

At the second pharmacy they read all the notes from the first pharmacist, had questions, and called her. Second pharmacist doesn't have the right stuff. I ask her to call around so I can stop the wild goose chase. She does and we find another pharmacy up the street that has what we need.

At this point I'm glad to live in a big city.

Get to the third place. I was there FOREVER. I promise you it took two hours to get the Rx filled . . . and I was assisted the moment I walked in the door. I was wondering if they were having to make it or slowly extract if from another male while I waited.

I get the Rx and read the instructions. They don't seem correct based on the original Rx. She calls the doc and they speak at length. I am assured I have the right stuff. I pay (not covered by insurance, BTW) and we head back to the doctor's office for the injection.

My goodness. That is the BIGGEST needle I have ever seen in my life. And it goes right into the thigh muscle. You can imagine that Mikey didn't care much for the shot. :)

We do the three T treatments over the course of the next month, with the last on 10/6. Now, you are probably wondering if they worked. . .

Um . . . .

Let me put it this way . . . I could totally sell what's left over of his T on the street. I could put all of those "male enhancement" companies out of business - and they'd be crying like a girl.

So, yeah! They work. What's really funny about it is that he gets the shot on a Monday and then nothing happens for a few days. Then on Thursday - TA DA!

On 10/6 we went in for the final injection and inspection. Everything looks good and we are scheduled for the afternoon of 10/22/2008.

Oh . . and before I forget . . I was RIGHT! The dosage on the T Rx was wrong! Fortunately the nurses caught it and gave him the correct amounts. I got a call from the pharmacy letting me know it was incorrect AFTER he had two doses. Nice, huh?

DEVELOPMENT: 1 YEAR OLD

On September 22 Mikey turned one year old. There are still moments when I'm stunned by the fact I have another baby, much less a one-year-old. Because this date was going to be shortly after the surgery, we didn't make any big plans for his birthday. We were scrambling to come up with something when my grandfather passed. So, ultimately Mikey's b-day was very low-key, but he still had fun. We let him feed himself cake. It was a funny sight. I don't think he actually ate much as he was much more interested in squeezing the frosting between his fingers.

We had our one-year check-up yesterday. Mikey is on the small side - 5% head, 5% weight, 10% height - but the doctor is not concerned. He's on schedule for most of his milestones and ahead on a few others, so no worries there, either. He received four more shots (poor baby) and a clean bill of health.

SUMMARY

So, I think that gets everyone back up to speed - LOL! We're getting ready for the next surgery, both mentally and physically. On one hand I'm ready to get it over, but on the other hand I'm dreading it. I know everything will be fine because we have witnessed miracles for Mikey already. Please pray for Mikey's swift recovery and that he will have no pain. Please pray for Mikey's doctors that they will be sharp of mind and skillful with hand. And please pray for Vincent and I that we will have wisdom to comfort our son and peace about the entire procedure.

I'll try my best to be more timely in my future posts. :)

With friendship,

Care