Craniosynostosis

On July 9th, Audrey was diagnosed with a condition known as Sagittal Craniosynostosis. When babies are born, the skull is divided into 5 different areas. The spaces in between the areas are called sutures. The divisions allow the head to grow as the brain grows. Audrey's sagittal suture, the one on the top of her head, had prematurely closed. What this was doing was causing her head to grow thin and long instead of round and thus putting pressure on her brain.

We were referred to a neurosurgeon here in San Antonio named Dr. David Jiminez. We were completely stunned when we were told she needed to have surgery. The thought never crossed our mind that surgery was even a possibility. We thought the worst would be that she'd have to wear a helmet for a while and that's it. We walked out of his office in a complete daze and I was crying all night long.

Once the shock wore off a bit, we finally sat down and discussed our options. It turned out that Dr. Jiminez pioneered a new way of doing this surgery that is less invasive with a very short recovery period. There would only be two small incisions on her head and they would use endoscopes and basically a specialized pair of scissors to re-open the suture. She would then be required to wear a helmet for a year. The other option would be to make an incision from ear to ear, pull back the scalp and re-build the skull. After thinking about these two options, the decision was obvious. Surgery was scheduled for August 14th with Dr. Jiminez.