Ten Fingers

Mr. LIH and I brought our son in for surgery to remove his poly dactyl thumb on his left hand.

Now it's almost three weeks later and he's been a champ.  He has a hard cast from mid-bicep that extends down to cover is tiny little hand.  *graphic warning*  The cast is large and must be very firm to protect the thumb itself, as the surgeon had to insert a steel pin in through the top of the thumb to help stabilize it while his tendons and ligaments are healing.

His surgery was a lot less complicated, once they were in and so his recovery time is shorter, as well as the hope that he will not need additional surgeries to bring his thumb into the correct alignment.

I really think that this might have been harder on my husband and I.  My son didn't seem to notice anything was happening and despite being groggy and maybe somewhat disoriented after the surgery, was in good spirits.  He was up and running around in the recovery room, ready to head home.

Although the recovery is looking to be quite lengthy, I'm glad that we went through with it.  It will save him on social pressures and ridicule, as well as give him better mobility with his thumb.  He could use it ok before, but now his thumb will be functioning properly.

In another week or so we will be bringing him in to remove the pin and the cast in exchange for a "soft" cast (whatever that is) that will be on him for an additional 4 weeks, I believe.  After that, he starts physical therapy to rebuild strength in his arm and hand, with which he will have a "cast" that goes on at night for another 6 weeks.

Despite the cast, he gets along better than I feared.  He uses that arm as sort a lever to get himself into all kinds of trouble.  The only time I feel guilty is when he can't do simple things that he was able to do before.  Flipping through books has become somewhat of a challenge, taking apart his Legos after he builds them, and eating.  It seems my son might be left-handed and so he has some major challenges to use a fork with his right hand and just gets frustrated.  Otherwise, he handles the whole one-handed thing well.

I will update as we go through this process, but wish us luck.  I have a new baby coming in about 8 weeks (hopefully) and my husband starts a new job soon, so life is very much in flux right now.