Dahmer was fascinated and did not hesitate to touch or hold them. According to Lionel Dahmer, he was "strangely thrilled by the sound they made. His little hands dug deep into the pile of bones." At the age of six, it was discovered that he needed surgery to repair a double hernia. Following the surgery, which coincided with the birth of his brother, there was a drastic change in the once happy, bubbly and outgoing boy "he seemed smaller, somehow more vulnerable... he would withdraw into himself, sit in silence for long periods, almost without moving, his face strange