We discovered that H has a tongue-tie when he was about 14 months old, at the time when he started being mischievous and stuck out his tongue at every single opportunity.
I was depressed when it was confirmed at the polyclinic and we were referred to NUH to assess the severity of the condition. The doctor informed us that it was moderate severity and suggested for us to wait for a few months to see if there is any changes. When we sought a second opinion, the doctor advised that we could use speech therapy to correct the condition. Thus, we waited from April to Aug 2021 before we decided to let H go for the surgery.
Our considerations to go for the surgery in the end were as below:
- His speech delay
- We could see that he has an obvious delay in his speech as he couldn't say mama at 15 months.
- Potential issues highlighted from other parents whose kids have the same condition
- His schooling arrangement at the previous pre-school
The appointment before the surgery was straightforward. The doctor explained the procedure and briefed us on what to prepare and expect during the day of surgery.
On the surgery day, we were all prepped; maybe except for H. At such a young age, he could sort of understand what was happening and started crying when we stepped into the ward. We had to take a lot of time to calm him down, and unexpectedly, the dosage given to put him to sleep didn't work. I had to accompany him into the surgical ward? to grab him tightly so that they could put him to sleep using some gas thingy.
The surgery was done in a matter of minutes, even before I could hobble back into the ward. To be honest, I regretted to let H go for the surgery when I heard his pitiful cries after the surgery. He couldn't stop crying for at least 30 mins, till the nurses gave us a private room. On hindsight, I think the crying was probably because of stranger anxiety than the pain involved as he could speak and drink normally right after the surgery.
The afternoon was spent peacefully with him playing with some of the toys brought from home. There were no other issues within the week of surgery and the follow up consultation was also all good. Everything was good except that H still has a line on his tongue, even after the surgery. I am hoping that the line would disappear as time goes by.
Now that it is about 9 months after the surgery, H could talk pretty well. The speech therapy lessons have stopped 2 months post surgery as he was assessed to be improving very well; although we can't tell if it's because of the surgery or that it's time for him to start speaking.
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