Hernia Schmernia

Well, it seems as though Gabe may have a hernia too. Ladan had surgery to repair a hernia when Gabe was just 3 weeks old. I noticed the same swelling that I had detected with Ladan, so I took Gabe to the doctor today to have it checked out. She definitely felt a larger hole on one side than the other, so off we go to the pediatric surgeon. At this point, it's probably just fluid coming through, so it's not super-bad or painful for him (he probably doesn't even notice it most or any of the time yet). And it's not an emergency at this point either. Our appointment is scheduled for March 17 to visit with the surgeon, and if he does have a hernia, we'll likely schedule the surgery to take place a couple of weeks after that.

If he ends up having surgery, we'll just have his re-circumcision done at the same time. I've been debating the necessity of the recirc and have been unsure of whether or not I felt like it was worth it to put him through anesthesia and all that just to even things out. I had also been debating whether or not it was worth the cost, etc. However, our insurance is SO MUCH BETTER this year than it was last year, and we wouldn't likely pay more than the doctor visit copay ($10) for the surgery. Anyway, I was a bit torn. The money issue seemed to be resolved, but I still wasn't all that excited about putting him under to cut a little piece of skin off. It looks like the Lord may have brought some clarity here. Not that I am all psyched about the possibility of him having surgery for any reason, but if we can get it all done at the same time, that would be great!

The Lord's timing is definitely perfect! Ladan's hernia didn't show up until he was over 2 years old, which could have been the case with Gabe. Most of the doctors say that now is the time to do the recirc if we're going to do it (not that you can't do it later, but it's LOTS harder on them), so we may have scheduled that and then ended up having to put him through surgery again in another few months. Isn't He gracious!?!