Part Three | Max’s Polydactyly Reconstruction

 

A week ago Max became cast free – yippee! 

 

Truly, we were in a good groove with cast life. Max adjusted quickly and figured out crawling and walking just fine with his new accessory. He didn’t seem to itch or get too hot and since it was only on for 10 day, it wasn’t smelling at all. I had minimal bruising … the worst being a punch in the eye socket. Uh, it still hurts thinking about it.

 

 

Baby casts are pretty cute. You know, if you ignore the whole, something awful happened for it to get put there in the first place. We got quite a few jokes from strangers about baby football injuries and stories of other little ones with broken bones. I mean, Max does kind of look like a little lineman. It’s really a blessing they can cast babies. Dealing with a bandage or fighting to change dressings while something heals would be way more of a headache. I wouldn’t sign up for that, nope.

 

 

 

Probably the worst part of his cast was getting it taken off by what I’m sure Max considers “the saw of death”. He screamed … loud. Mostly because the lame-o nurse had to keep stopping and starting the saw because apparently some parts were thicker than others and she couldn’t pry it off the first time. Or second. Or third. Fourth times a charm, I guess. Max didn’t think it was funny. He nursed to calm down and then checked out his freed arm and new thumb. I could tell he was thinking, “Whoa, I never thought blue cast was coming off!”

 

It made me cringe to see his little incision and think that a knife had been close enough to my baby to cut him. Obviously my desire to be a surgeon waned back in middle school, and good thing, I don’t think I could stomach it. On the drive home, Max bit off his bandage like a little animal. It was stitched on so I had to do mini surgery when we got home to get it off all the way. The rest of the stitches will dissolve and we head back in a month for his final check up. 

 

He hasn’t been in any pain. Not even wincing when he falls and catches himself with his left hand. It’s amazing how fast the body heals. The incision is definitely still healing – bright pink skin and some scabbing, but all in all, it’s on the mend. Part of me is so sad to not see his double thumb. It was such a precious part of him. But knowing all we went through with the surgery and cast I’m glad we did it at this age. It’s done. And we’re all breathing a sigh of relief to be past this milestone.

 

 

In regard to the possible hemihypertrophy diagnosis, I updated here on his clear ultrasound and now I’m just waiting for the phone call to schedule the geneticist appointment. And yes, I’ve followed up … and will be doing so again today. I’m so thankful for all our wonderful doctors who have cared so well for Max – between his surgery and taking all the precautionary steps to make sure everything else is okay. High five team! If it was up to me, they’d mirror Grey’s Anatomy characters after you as a big ol’ thank you :)

 

I’ll post one last time about Max’s polydactyly reconstruction after our final appointment with some pictures of his new thumb. It’s still a little gruesome with the swelling and stitches right now. You wouldn’t know by looking at him though, he’s happy and healthy and totally back to his normal life. Only complaints he’s voiced lately are molar teething and a wee bit of jealousy when Jemma sits in my lap. Apparently he owns me :)