Twins Colton and Isabella may seem like double trouble, but mom Sarah is just happy to have them around. "You go play?"
When they were born twelve weeks early, the twins went straight to the neonatal intensive care unit. "They were in the hospital ten and a half weeks."
But the worries didn't end at the hospital. Months later, she noticed two little red marks on Colton's neck. Sara Suggs, mother
"And I noticed that they were draining." Colton had "pits," or cysts that had formed in the womb. If left alone, the cysts can cause chronic infection. Colton's had to be removed. Doctor Mitchell Austin used a new minimally invasive procedure to take care of the problem.
A fiber-optic tool typically used in sinus surgeries enters a small incision in the neck. The surgeon removes the pits with less risk of touching muscles, large arteries and major nerves in the face. Mitchell Austin, M.D., Nemours children's clinic.
"Larger surgeries and larger incisions also endanger more nerves that are very, very close to the face. We're going underneath, behind and below all those areas."
Traditional surgery through the neck takes two incisions and recovery takes four to seven days. The newer procedure uses one smaller incision and kids can be back to normal in three days. It also leaves little to no scarring. Colton bounced back quickly. "When we went into it knowing what could be and when he woke up it was as if nothing had happened to him, we were very, very relieved."
Now, it's full speed ahead for the twins. Double the work, but double the love.
