Performance Enhancing Drugs

I've been writing a lot about Ryan's cranio, but I realized I haven't shared much about what a hypospadias is. Like I've said in the past, his urethra is slightly below where it should be. When Ryan was born, the pediatrician immediately diagnosed it in the delivery room (and we even had to fill out federal paperwork to document this "deformity"). Because his urethra is low, the doctor will need to "zip it up" so that it is in the correct place. I don't have one of those parts, but I find that using the term "zip" and "penis" together in a thought makes me cringe.

Anyways, he said it's not that complicated of a procedure (it just requires a lot of layers of sutures), but since the parts he's working with are so ... tiny ... it takes a lot of time. In fact, the doctor said that it would take longer than his cranio surgery. We were also very happy to learn that it can be preformed as an outpatient procedure at the Children's Hospital location down the road. One thing that makes us feel better is that supposedly, this isn't any more painful than a routine circumcision. I'm not clear at all on how they can say this (I doubt any newborn can report out circumcision and/or hypospadias correction surgery using a pain scale) but apparently there is some type of method. And it is assuring to hear. On a side note - Dr. Keating told us that this surgery would likely be more painful than his cranio surgery.

So apparently it looks like this on the pain scale:

Circumcision > Hypospadias surgery > Cranio surgery  (I know ... it's counterintuitive to me as well).

Like his cranio surgery, there is a chance that he will have to get it repaired later in life. We would know this because he would leak. Not ideal. The whole reason why we're getting the surgery done is because if we don't, he likely won't be able to pee standing and could have intimacy problems down the road. However with the surgery, the doctor said that more than likely, only a urologist would be able to detect that he had it done. So as Matt puts it, Ryan shouldn't date urology students in college.

I really didn't want to shock you all with an actual picture. Or distribute kiddie porn. But peenie number 1 best resembles Ryan's situation. We read that in less-developed countries, boys born with this condition (specifically #4) are raised as females (after a little - okay a big - snip snip).

We scheduled Ryan's two testosterone injections for his hypospadias surgery. As the urologist put it, he's working with very delicate and teeny parts. Getting injections in the time leading up to the surgery will give him a little more to work with. He will get the first on June 21st and the second on July 24th. The doctor assured us that there wouldn't be any long-lasting effects (although my husband did embarrassingly ask if Ryan would be ... bigger ... for life). He said that Ryan would have a spike in growth but would plateau out and then progress and grow normally after.

As the school year comes to a close (and our little man grows bigger), the big day is getting closer. We are feeling increasingly more comfortable with it all, but it's definitely looming. It's a strange mix of emotions. We're obviously scared out of our new parent minds. We're anxious about how it's going to go ... how we'll be on the day of. We're eager to get it over with. And in the mean time, we are loving up on this little man and staying positive.