When we brought her home, we consulted with an orthopaedic hand surgeon regarding what could be done to help her. Ultimately we decided to have her thumb removed (we don't know how she has kept it this long) and the surgeon is going to reposition her hand over top of the bone she does have, thereby straightening it out. We decided to do this over Christmas break, so she wouldn't miss any school (hoping) and get further behind. So, surgery is scheduled for the 23rd.
Saturday night, Livi got out of bed and was sobbing. She said she had a bad dream about her hand, that it would hurt to have the surgery, and she was afraid. This was all triggered because she has a dr. appt. tonight, and she thought it was for the surgery. Anyway, I talked to her, tried to calm her little fears and told her mommy and daddy would never do anything to hurt her, that we would control her pain as much as possible and that it would all be good in the end. I reassured her that her appt. on Monday was purely a pre-surgical thing and she wasn't having anything done tonight.
She seemed to believe me, to trust me. That is a good thing, as some days I'm not sure she truly trusts me. I want her to know we will take care of her and love her no matter what. So, if you are reading this, would you say a prayer for my little girl, that she will be surrounded by God's love and grace and that her surgery will go well; that the Lord will guide Dr. Reilly's hands and eyes as he makes Olivia's hand and arm look more like her other one and that she will be free of pain especially for Christmas Day - her very first!
***UPDATE***
We are postponing Olivia's surgery until Feb. 3 in order for her to truly enjoy her very first Christmas (surgeon supported and suggested).
2 comments:
She is so tiny and beautiful! Poor girl! Joy had hand surgery about 6 months after she came home. She, too, has a floating thumb. The doc removed 2 fingertips that were barely there, opened the grasping area of her palm and tried to scar her thumb to give her more stability. Her thumb is now a little more sturdy, but is of no use to her. Tell Olivia that you know a little girl who had this surgery and she did wonderful! She was running around and playing with her cast on that same evening! She did remove her casts 5 times. AFter the last time, they gave up casting and just bandaged her! I'll be praying!
I'm so glad I saw this post before the big day!
I'll be praying for all of you, and for much success for the surgery. I have a bloggy friend who had her daughter's extra thumb removed, and they did some handprint crafts (or maybe even molds of some sort) before, so there would be a memento of "before". I thought that was really special. Just an idea :-)
Barb
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