Grammie came over to watch Nadia (which she LOVED) and we headed over to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children to have the cast removed and see Amelie’s hand. I didn’t sleep well at all the night before. At one point I was up for 45 minutes wondering how it was going to look and if it was going to hurt and so on. I wasn’t worried, it was really more like how excited I get before we go somewhere on vacation.
Once again we were impressed by the staff and volunteers of Scottish Rite and their love for the kiddos. They are also very efficient!
Click on the photo to see album
Amelie in the waiting area.
I think this is so cute.
Waiting for the nurse to come take the cast off.
Here is the video. It’s just under 6 minutes and I really made this for Amelie when she grows up. I want her to be able to see the reaction she had when it was being removed and when she first saw her hand. I hope no one gets jeebed out.
Here I am being jeebed out at her picking the scabs off. Amelie DOES NOT like her hands to be dirty.
Sweet girl!
We couldn’t be happier or more impressed with what they accomplished at Texas Scottish Rite. They do have the best hand surgeons in the world! I was overwhelmed by emotion and gratefulness to God seeing those little fingers flex and move independently.
She has been in quite a bit of pain whenever she accidentally bangs it or puts pressure on it. The first night she would pick something up or climb on the couch then whimper, show me her hand and want a kiss. It was clearly catching her off guard that the stuff she wanted to do was causing her pain. She got used to the cast banging around and she has been carrying her arm a bit like it still has the cast, but that will fade more and more. She has no official occupational or physical therapy – she only needs to play.
We will take her in for a check up in about six weeks. Here is what we understand might happen in the future (but we don’t know any of this for sure, or when it would happen): another surgery on her left pinky finger to free it up from the base. A bone graft on the left middle finger. A touch up to the left hand fingers when she is older – plastic surgery type to make them look smoother. Also surgery on her right hand to separate the three partial fingers.
Thanks for all the many prayers and encouragement we received through all of this.
We are oh so thankful and grateful to God for how amazing Amelie’s hand looks after getting the cast off yesterday! We will have photos and video to follow, but I wanted to let our readers know how it went. The staff at Texas Scottish Rite is so amazing and awesome!!
I want to start by saying that Texas Scottish Rite for Children is an amazing place with an amazing staff. They immediately put me at ease, and the love they have for the kids is so obvious. We got to the Day Surgery Unit at about 7am and met Melanie, the nurse for that area. Amelie was the first surgery of the day so it was only us for a little while. The anesthesiologist talked to us and then finished reading Amelie’s file. The nurse Melanie was so sweet! She got Amelie weighed and told us that we could turn on the TV if we wanted, but Amelie just wanted to check everything out in this new place.
Throughout our waiting Melanie had books and toys for Amelie.
A band for me and a band for Amelie; she messed with these for a long time.
I got her diaper changed and into the gown and one of the hand unit Fellows came to talk to us. He told us what the goals were and what he thought they might try to do. Then a little while later Dr. Ezaki came to talk to us and she told us what her goals were and how long she thought it would take. Her goals were much more complex than what the other person said and I was feeling GREAT after talking to her. She has a wonderful way about her and we had heard over and over about how wonderful she is in the field.
Then, after about the 12th person asked us if Amelie had any known allergies and “when was the last time she ate or drank,” it was time for them to give Amelie the meds to make her relax and not be so worried when they took her away. She was really woozy by the time the anesthesiologist, Dr. Wall, came to get her. At this point I was ready for them to start the surgery and get the ball rolling; the waiting was getting to me.
“Dude!”
Once they took her off to surgery Melanie suggested that we go down to the cafeteria and get some breakfast. Scottish Rite has this awesome cafeteria with all these different food stations and it’s tasty! We had a peaceful breakfast and answered text messages and emails while we continued to wait. We were asked by a volunteer if we were here to take photos (since Mike had his camera bag) and we told him our daughter was having hand surgery. He asked who was doing the surgery and Mike said, “Dr. Ezaki.” The guy got this happy look on his face and said, “She is in good hands. She’s the best in the world.” As we got off the elevator he said, “Day surgery?” Mike said yes and he laughed and said, “Figures.” (like it’s Dr. Ezaki, of course it’s just day surgery). We had a good laugh about that and Mike started making jokes about how “we have the best hand surgeon in the world – 17 people have told us so”. So he was making Facebook status updates and comments and saying we need to sell shirts. We were just enjoying ourselves as we waited to hear from the surgeon. Our friend Randy read the Facebook status and quickly registered this site: WeHaveTheBestHandSurgeonInTheWorld.com. We laughed so hard that I cried – thanks Randy (you earned your stay at our house this weekend).
Then Dr. Ezaki came out to talk to us and show us the photos of Amelie’s hand before they put the cast on. She told us she was able to separate the fingers, save the end of her middle finger, which she originally said she wanted to save but there was a chance that it might have to be removed. That was great news! She also said, however, that there is a gap in it without any bone, so they might have to do a bone graft at a later time. She also talked about some curvature in her pinky from it having been attached to the other finger so long, and therefore they would have to do some other things because of that, but it was really over our heads, so we’ll just have to wait and see what comes next. In all it couldn’t have been more encouraging, and seeing those pictures of that previously jumbled mess of fingers all separated was amazing!
A short time later Melanie told us that Amelie was awake and not screaming so they decided to bring her to us. She whimpered a little when she saw us, but they got her mostly unhooked and in my lap. She seemed confused about what was on her arm, but otherwise just looking around a little fussy.
Melanie gave Amelie some pain meds and sent me down to the pharmacy to grab our prescription to take home. We waited around another 30 minutes or so and were reminded another 15 times not to let her go near water or get the cast wet, or even play outside or get too warm at night (so that she wouldn’t sweat). We were basically told we had no excuse since she wasn’t in daycare – it was our job to keep that cast clean and dry for 3 weeks. I told the surgeon I would turn on my OCD switch. We left for home about noon and got Amelie inside the house and settled. She was pretty irritable and very annoyed by the cast. Every time she tried to use her left hand and the cast came up she would start to cry in frustration. We gave her the next dose of pain medicine and put her down for a nap. Once she woke up it was the same happy Amelie we have grown used to; sweet girl who is just rolling with whatever comes along. She was following Nadia around and playing like a happy kid. At one point I was on the floor with her and she stood up and did a somersault while holding her cast out so it wouldn’t touch the ground. Then she sat up and laughed.
They told us to give her apple juice so she wouldn’t get constipated and not to give her too much food in case she threw up, so Mike headed to the store. She liked it, but kept making this crazy sour face. She finished the cup and asked for more. Mike had to get the camera out to snap some photos of that face.
I took a video of her while Mike and Nadia were at the store.
The surgery couldn’t have gone better and we can’t wait to see her hand in three weeks!
Hello all. First an update about the surgery. Amelie did great and is a real trooper. I will do a more detailed post, but they were able to accomplish their goals today and we are really excited to see how it will look in three weeks when they remove her cast. After a 3 hour nap today she was up and about playing and laughing with Nadia. The cast is a bit frustrating for her, but I think she will be ignoring it soon.
Here are some photos and a video that Mike took yesterday to show how well she was using her hands before the surgery.
