Victor's Journey: Saliva duct re-routing surgery

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Saliva duct re-routing surgery

Victor had surgery on August 5th. His wonderful ENT re-routed Victor's sub-mandibular glands from the front of his mouth to next to his tonsils. He also resected some of Victor's sublingual glands. This surgery was done to decrease Victor's drooling and prevent dehydration. Additionally, Victor's adenoids were removed because of their large size. Victor was under general anesthesia for the surgery, then spent the day and night in the hospital afterwards. That first day of recovery was terrible. He had a lot of pain and the pain medication only made things worse. Poor thing, he cried for several hours straight and did not drink at all until next morning. Fortunately his recovery was quick and by lunch of the second day he was drinking and eating very light foods. Since then his drooling has decreased dramatically. Also, Victor is staying much more hydrated since the surgery. Needless to say, we are very pleased with the outcome!

Our Vision

We wish to develop a large community of friends around Victor who:

Allow themselves to be filled with the joy that Victor stirs within people who get to know him for whom he really is: a happy child rejoicing in the smallest things of life, reminding everyone to live for the moment,
Accept the differences brought by people and children with special needs as an integral part of society,
Understand the challenges people and children like Victor face and are willing to be advocates for their needs, and
Want to help make a difference in other people's lives by sponsoring research into rare diseases like Pitt Hopkins syndrome.

Victor's Story

This is Victor, our precious son. Our names are Theresa and Paul. Victor was born in August of 2005. He has a deletion of Chromosome 18q 21.2 – 21.32 / Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome. We also have two wonderful older girls who are typically developing. Our family lives in North Carolina, USA.

Victor is a very happy child, who loves to meet and interact with everyone–a true extrovert. He has dysphagia, which is a swallowing disorder, and has to have his liquids thickened to a honey consistency. Victor has asthma and has been hospitalized many times due to viral respiratory infections. He also has severe food allergies to nuts, dairy, eggs, and kiwi. Victor sometimes holds his breath for a few seconds when he doesn’t seem to be feeling well or is very tired. Victor has developmental disabilities. He rolled over at 9-10 months, sat at 11 months, crawled/bunny hopped at 14 months, stood alone at almost 2 years old, took his first steps at 2, and began walking independently at about 2 1/2 years old. He wears custom orthotic inserts in his shoes to provide proper alignment and added support when walking. He has a little bit of an ataxic gait pattern, and needs help with curbs and stairs.

Victor is very curious, and investigates all things in his environment. His receptive language is much more advanced than his expressive language —he can understand much of what you say to him, but currently is not speaking yet. Pointing has helped Victor tremendously to let us know what he wants and to make choices, and he is beginning to use some signs, putting 2-3 signs together at a time. He also uses a communication app developed by his Daddy for the iPhone/iPad, called Verbal Victor, with much success! We help him learn new things through prompting, repetition, and redirection. Victor loves listening to music, looking at books, playing with tops, watching favorite videos, using the iPad, playing outside, swinging, kicking a soccer ball, going down a slide, pedaling his tricycle and many other things–he enjoys everything that life has to offer! He is a joy and an inspiration to us all!