1st Hand Surgery (Tobias's Journey)
1st Hand Surgery
When I was pregnant with Tobias, we knew his left hand was going to be unique. At our 20 week ultrasounds, we saw that his fingers were shorter and had a large gap between his pointer finger and middle finger. We were able to see bones for all 5 fingers so that was good. When I gave birth, we quickly saw his hand was indeed small and his fingers were webbed.
Once we were settled into the 2nd NICU he was in, their plastic surgeon, Dr. Workman, came by to check out his hand. She explained it is called symbrodactly, basically the medical term for webbing, and summed up a treatment plan for us.
Fast-forward to 10 months later and we are starting that treatment plan. The reason why it took 10 months to start fixing his webbing is because of a couple reasons. First off, she’s a wonderful surgeon so her schedule kept filling up. Secondly, she kept pushing off his first surgery from 6 months, to 8 months, then to 10 months. The surgeon did so because she didn’t think his hand needed immediate attention. He uses that left, little hand just as much as he uses his right, normal hand. We have even wondered if he is left-handed.
I should mention why we are doing these surgeries. Even though he is very active with that hand, the surgeon, Adrian and I agreed that it would be best for Tobias if we freed up those web spaces. By doing so, he would have a fuller range of motion than what he was born with. Our main focus was fixing the webbing between his thumb and pointer finger. His surgeon emphasized how important the thumb is, so she wanted to make that operation the 1st of the 2 surgeries.
So on February 5, we drove up to Phoenix for our consultation to finally begin the process of correcting his hand. During that appointment, Dr. Workman explained what she will be doing during surgery and what we should expect for recovery. I honestly didn’t want to take another trip to Phoenix, just to hear her talk about the same plan we’ve discussed for months, but I am so happy we did. I didn’t realize how nervous I was for his surgery until I felt myself relax while talking with her.
We drove up the night before surgery, on February 7th to stay at the Ronald McDonald House. We got settled in at about 11p.m. He stayed up until 12, but we didn't mind since that allowed us to give him so more milk before he had to start fasting at 1:30 a.m.
The next morning we drove 30 seconds across the parking lot to the hospital. ( I know, super convenient!). Check-in was at 6 a.m. While we were getting him prepped for surgery I wasn't very nervous. I actually felt calm. Apart of that was due to how confident I felt in our surgeon. Tobias was also in a good mood since he wasn't hungry yet because we were there so early. He had gone under anesthesia before, so I knew he would do well going under again.
There was a moment when I felt slightly emotional and sad because I realized it was the last time I was going to see his sweet little webbed hand that way. But those feelings quickly went away when I reminded myself how important and beneficial the surgery would be for him. At 7:30 the nurse came in to take him. It was actually funny because he came and grabbed him and said "we'll be right back" and just walked out of the room with Tobias. So we were unsure if he literally meant he's coming right back with him or if he was going into surgery. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to kiss him goodbye, but I figured this nurse had seen a ton of crying mothers, so he probably didn't want to see another one.
The surgery was suppose to take about 2 hours, so they let us both leave and go back across the street to pack up. I was happy about that because for his last surgery, the office made one of us stay just in case an emergency happened and that made me a nervous wreck. Since we were allowed to go back and pack, that helped keep my mind busy and helped the time go by fast. Once we got back to the waiting room of the surgery center, he had been in there for about an hour.
At around 9:30 a.m., his surgeon came out to tell us he was in recovery. She said the surgery went great and she was pleased with how the hand was looking. She did also mention that she noticed his veins were zig zagged, which I guess isn't typical for a normal hand. So she did mention that we are definetely going to wait a while for the second surgery.
Once we went to see him in recovery, it took him about 2 hours to fully recovery. He had a hard time waking up on anesthesia. When we first walked in, a nurse was trying to calm him down while he was screaming at the top of his lungs. I was a little freaked out because his eyes we swollen. But they said that was normal because of the fluids from his IV.
After he calmed down, drank some milk, and took a short nap, he was ready to go home. The drive home was pretty rough for about an hour. He kept getting frustrated because he wanted to use his wrapped hand to hold his bottle and grab his toys. Once we got home, he was in a much better mood. All in all, he actually did A LOT better than expected. We were anticipating a whinny and crabby boy for a few days, but he was pretty much back to normal the next day. However, he was supper unhappy at nighttime. The first two nights home, he woke up every hour just screaming. But we managed to get through it with the help of lots of coffee and catch up naps throughout the day.
The next few days went pretty smoothly. He was back to his hyper and happy self. On Tuesday, 4 days after his surgery, we notices his wrap was about to come off so we made the decision to quickly pack up and drive to Phoenix. Thankfully Adrian had requested that day off to help me take care of Tobias. I am so glad drove back up to his doctor because his wrap completely fell off when we were about an hour out of Yuma.
It is now a couple weeks after Tobias surgery and he is doing wonderful! We are doing daily cleanings and dressing changes. He is so patient through it all, so cleaning and changing his wrap are actually pretty easy. The only concerning thing we have noticed is that Tobias doesn't want to use his hand when his wrap isn't on. I think he has grown to be very comfortable with his wrap, so when it is off he just holds his hand up and won't let it touch anything.
This week we have started to let him have an hour out of his wrap just to get him use to having his hand free again. During that time I try and move those fingers and touch his hand, so he starts getting use to using that hand again.
The next morning we drove 30 seconds across the parking lot to the hospital. ( I know, super convenient!). Check-in was at 6 a.m. While we were getting him prepped for surgery I wasn't very nervous. I actually felt calm. Apart of that was due to how confident I felt in our surgeon. Tobias was also in a good mood since he wasn't hungry yet because we were there so early. He had gone under anesthesia before, so I knew he would do well going under again.
There was a moment when I felt slightly emotional and sad because I realized it was the last time I was going to see his sweet little webbed hand that way. But those feelings quickly went away when I reminded myself how important and beneficial the surgery would be for him. At 7:30 the nurse came in to take him. It was actually funny because he came and grabbed him and said "we'll be right back" and just walked out of the room with Tobias. So we were unsure if he literally meant he's coming right back with him or if he was going into surgery. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to kiss him goodbye, but I figured this nurse had seen a ton of crying mothers, so he probably didn't want to see another one.
The surgery was suppose to take about 2 hours, so they let us both leave and go back across the street to pack up. I was happy about that because for his last surgery, the office made one of us stay just in case an emergency happened and that made me a nervous wreck. Since we were allowed to go back and pack, that helped keep my mind busy and helped the time go by fast. Once we got back to the waiting room of the surgery center, he had been in there for about an hour.
At around 9:30 a.m., his surgeon came out to tell us he was in recovery. She said the surgery went great and she was pleased with how the hand was looking. She did also mention that she noticed his veins were zig zagged, which I guess isn't typical for a normal hand. So she did mention that we are definetely going to wait a while for the second surgery.
Once we went to see him in recovery, it took him about 2 hours to fully recovery. He had a hard time waking up on anesthesia. When we first walked in, a nurse was trying to calm him down while he was screaming at the top of his lungs. I was a little freaked out because his eyes we swollen. But they said that was normal because of the fluids from his IV.
After he calmed down, drank some milk, and took a short nap, he was ready to go home. The drive home was pretty rough for about an hour. He kept getting frustrated because he wanted to use his wrapped hand to hold his bottle and grab his toys. Once we got home, he was in a much better mood. All in all, he actually did A LOT better than expected. We were anticipating a whinny and crabby boy for a few days, but he was pretty much back to normal the next day. However, he was supper unhappy at nighttime. The first two nights home, he woke up every hour just screaming. But we managed to get through it with the help of lots of coffee and catch up naps throughout the day.
The next few days went pretty smoothly. He was back to his hyper and happy self. On Tuesday, 4 days after his surgery, we notices his wrap was about to come off so we made the decision to quickly pack up and drive to Phoenix. Thankfully Adrian had requested that day off to help me take care of Tobias. I am so glad drove back up to his doctor because his wrap completely fell off when we were about an hour out of Yuma.
It is now a couple weeks after Tobias surgery and he is doing wonderful! We are doing daily cleanings and dressing changes. He is so patient through it all, so cleaning and changing his wrap are actually pretty easy. The only concerning thing we have noticed is that Tobias doesn't want to use his hand when his wrap isn't on. I think he has grown to be very comfortable with his wrap, so when it is off he just holds his hand up and won't let it touch anything.
This week we have started to let him have an hour out of his wrap just to get him use to having his hand free again. During that time I try and move those fingers and touch his hand, so he starts getting use to using that hand again.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this post!! I appreciate your continued support through Tobias's Journey.
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