Happy New Year - Another Ball Drops!

Today, I am a man - thanks to world renowned pediatric urologist Dr. Dix Poppas (that's right, the urologist's name is Dix).

On Friday, January 22, Dr. Poppas and his best-of-class team, including the chief of Pediatric Anasthesiology at Cornell Medical Center, performed a right inguinal orchiopexy as well as a right inguinal hernia repair. In laymen's terms, that means I grew a pair of balls. (I've kept this close to the vest, but since it's all over I can tell you now: my right testicle has been hiding out in my groin since birth and hadn't dropped - so I had to get it fixed.)

After it was all done, a seven-member team marched into the recovery room, one of the doctors cradling me in her arms. I was super brave - didn't even cry, just fell right to sleep, woke up a bit groggy and hungry, but that was it. No drama. The doctors were beaming and told my parents I was - I quote - "the posterboy of pediatric surgery." My mom and dad haven't stopped bragging since.

As far as recovery goes, I was basically back to my super active and gregarious self the next day. The hardest part is that I can't use my exersaucer - which my parents hid and think I didn't notice. (hello, object permanence? I know when something's missing...) Also, I'm enduring dry sponge baths for the time being and am denied the pleasure of playing with my other favorite toy until the stitches come out. As you can imagine, given my enthusiastic curiosity with my own anatomy, changing my diaper has become a four-hand, two-parent job.

P.S. If anyone ever needs a right inguinal orchiopexy and/or a right inguinal hernia repair, Dr. Poppas is your man, and Cornell Medical is the place. They called later that afternoon and the next day to check up on me, as did my pediatrician (shout out to Dr. T. J. Gold and Tribeca Pediatrics). And they say New York is a cold, impersonal place. Not so. I was very well taken care of, and so were my parents.