Health issues in a newborn
The Setting: modern day Wisconsin, USA
The Problem:
I've got this character who is twelve when the story takes place; he was abandoned as an infant because he was sickly and blind, and his mother was very young and irresponsible. He was found by... well, not really a good Samaritan, but someone who took good care of him, so he grew up pretty healthy. Aside from being blind I want him to have a defining scar somewhere on his torso from a surgery done when he was fresh and new -- anywhere from newborn to eight months. I have two troubles here.
1. Would the scar be mostly visible? I assume so, as I've known people with visible scars from old surgeries, but I don't know if it'd be different on an infant/child.
2. What on earth kind of surgery could an infant have done that doesn't come with a million other problems? Other than being blind and the surgery, I'd like him to be mostly healthy -- his good Samaritan would not be likely to take him to a hospital except in an emergency. I've considered chalking it up to a premature birth causing the trouble, but I don't know if that'd be accurate. And if it's not entirely possible, I can rework his character to include other health issues -- ahh, the beauty of the editing process.
Search Terms Used:
Google and I had a moment. Several, over the following phrases. (I confess, I got confused very quickly; I find it really hard to follow medical stuff. And I kept running into this same article site that I couldn't actually read any articles on. o_O;)
"newborn surgery abdominal"
"omphalocele" "newborn"
"newborn defects", surgery
blindness in newborns, other defects
newborn, surgery, spinal
"newborn surgery" lungs
Thanks in advance, and sorry if I missed something deeply obvious! ^^"
Edit (12 Hours Later):
Thanks! You guys rock hard, and I've now got a dozen different leads to follow and build upon. Thanks again! <3
The Problem:
I've got this character who is twelve when the story takes place; he was abandoned as an infant because he was sickly and blind, and his mother was very young and irresponsible. He was found by... well, not really a good Samaritan, but someone who took good care of him, so he grew up pretty healthy. Aside from being blind I want him to have a defining scar somewhere on his torso from a surgery done when he was fresh and new -- anywhere from newborn to eight months. I have two troubles here.
1. Would the scar be mostly visible? I assume so, as I've known people with visible scars from old surgeries, but I don't know if it'd be different on an infant/child.
2. What on earth kind of surgery could an infant have done that doesn't come with a million other problems? Other than being blind and the surgery, I'd like him to be mostly healthy -- his good Samaritan would not be likely to take him to a hospital except in an emergency. I've considered chalking it up to a premature birth causing the trouble, but I don't know if that'd be accurate. And if it's not entirely possible, I can rework his character to include other health issues -- ahh, the beauty of the editing process.
Search Terms Used:
Google and I had a moment. Several, over the following phrases. (I confess, I got confused very quickly; I find it really hard to follow medical stuff. And I kept running into this same article site that I couldn't actually read any articles on. o_O;)
"newborn surgery abdominal"
"omphalocele" "newborn"
"newborn defects", surgery
blindness in newborns, other defects
newborn, surgery, spinal
"newborn surgery" lungs
Thanks in advance, and sorry if I missed something deeply obvious! ^^"
Edit (12 Hours Later):
Thanks! You guys rock hard, and I've now got a dozen different leads to follow and build upon. Thanks again! <3