I think it took five or six sticks to place his IV. I lost count after the second try, as I watched tears well in my 17-year-old son’s eyes. He has what medical folks call “valvey veins.” Of my three oldest kids, Owen looks the most like his dad — same long face, same curls of hair at his temples. But the valvey veins? He got those from me.
It was the anesthesiologist that was finally able to place the IV. For some reason, seeing your teenage son in tears feels so much worse than it did when he skinned his knee at age five or sprained his wrist at nine. Seeing your teenage son in tears hurts even worse when it could have been prevented — and even worse still when it’s your fault.
Owen was in the hospital getting jabbed in his valvey veins six times because he was about to be circumcised. Sort of. He was circumcised as a baby, same as his older brother. But he had a complication I didn’t know was a complication. The skin on the underside of his penis grew back together.
Bodies have a really incredible drive to heal themselves. And Owen’s did. I tried to stop it from healing itself. The pediatrician told me to pull the freshly healed skin apart and keep it lubricated.
Have you ever tried to pull healed skin apart on an infant or toddler?
Despite my efforts, his foreskin won the battle. The pediatrician said it was “no big deal.” He said that when Owen grew up and began to have regular erections or became sexually active, the skin would pull itself apart. But it didn’t.
So there we were, in the hospital. Him crying as they poked him over and over. Me crying because, at the root of it, it was my fault.
Top Comments
The only question I have is did you ask your son's permission before you posted a photo of him all vulnerable like that, in hospital? What about his feelings and rights to privacy? And speaking generally now, I don't get this need people have, to take photos of people in hospital, for no reason. It is like as soon as phones started to have cameras, people needed to take the most random and absurd photos ever - just because. It is such a waste. I mean, why would you even want to take a photo of being in hospital to remember it? I just.....don't get it. At least when we had film only people took proper pictures not just, of a toilet, of a hospital, of someone sticking food in their mouth. I love camera phones as much as the next person, but, in a hospital? For all that is holy - WHY? I just don't get it.
Good on her! I honestly don’t get it why people are pro circumcision. If this were female circumcision then people would be horrified, we would be discussing things like, the dark age practices of third world countries and mutilation, why are the boys any different? Why? How can the argument be flipped on its head as soon as you change the sex, these pro people are weird, sexist and ignorant IMHO.
I'm 100% against male infant circumcision but the two can't really be compared. They are completely different procedures performed for completely different reasons. Male circumcision actually had a medical use once upon a time; female mutilation never did and has always been about controlling women's sexuality. Also, male circumcision doesn't leave men unable to enjoy sex; the female version does (indeed, that's the whole point of it!) In this day and age I don't believe there is any excuse for circumcising babies, but it is unhelpful to the argument to try and compare male and female circumcision procedures.