Tongue tied
Today I stood in a room with 3 other people (a mom, a baby and a resident) and all three had been tongue tied at the beginning of their life. All three were literally tongue tied, not just figuratively. The mother of the child had had surgery to repair it as a grade school-er and the resident had had it done as a preteen.
The mother and the infant were both frustrated with the tongue tie and how it was impeding feeding. The mother and the resident had both a it released for a speech impediment. The later one's release had obviously left a last effect on the person's speech. One look at the child revealed it would obviously cause issues later in this kid's life. His tongue didn't even reach his alveolar ridge (aka would've never been able to touch his teeth. Which at the very least would've meant this kid could never stick his tongue out at anyone. (a big deal for a boy, right? haha)
I'd never actually done the clipping but I'd seen it done. It seemed simple enough and necessary. So I did it without anesthesia because that likely would have increased the kiddos distress and isn't standard practice for that procedure at least as far as I'm aware. After prep-ing the area with a crush, I made two small cuts and with each cut the tongue was freer. And I realize newborns can't smile... but I felt like this kiddo was smiling internally. He didn't make a fuss or peep during the procedure. Afterwards, he was protruding his tongue. And even though he was only a few day old, it was like he'd discovered some new novel trick. He just kept sticking it out. I've never had kids but I've witnessed pure parental joy. Today, I think for the first time, I experience neonatal joy. It was cute.
This kiddo won't remember me. He may not even know he was ever tongue tied unless he needs a revision or he hears his mom talk about it. Doing something like this in medicine is called preventative medicine AKA this kid never was underweight, never has had a speech impediment. In religion, preventative medicine is called grace or at least that's what I'm likening it to today. How cool is it to be a minister of grace in that way.
The mother and the infant were both frustrated with the tongue tie and how it was impeding feeding. The mother and the resident had both a it released for a speech impediment. The later one's release had obviously left a last effect on the person's speech. One look at the child revealed it would obviously cause issues later in this kid's life. His tongue didn't even reach his alveolar ridge (aka would've never been able to touch his teeth. Which at the very least would've meant this kid could never stick his tongue out at anyone. (a big deal for a boy, right? haha)
I'd never actually done the clipping but I'd seen it done. It seemed simple enough and necessary. So I did it without anesthesia because that likely would have increased the kiddos distress and isn't standard practice for that procedure at least as far as I'm aware. After prep-ing the area with a crush, I made two small cuts and with each cut the tongue was freer. And I realize newborns can't smile... but I felt like this kiddo was smiling internally. He didn't make a fuss or peep during the procedure. Afterwards, he was protruding his tongue. And even though he was only a few day old, it was like he'd discovered some new novel trick. He just kept sticking it out. I've never had kids but I've witnessed pure parental joy. Today, I think for the first time, I experience neonatal joy. It was cute.
This kiddo won't remember me. He may not even know he was ever tongue tied unless he needs a revision or he hears his mom talk about it. Doing something like this in medicine is called preventative medicine AKA this kid never was underweight, never has had a speech impediment. In religion, preventative medicine is called grace or at least that's what I'm likening it to today. How cool is it to be a minister of grace in that way.