One Hand Down One to Go

As Eli, Sidney, and I sit munching on usual afternoon snack of microwave popcorn, I have a couple of minutes to update everyone on surgery next Thursday. Surgery is scheduled for three hours, but as we are all aware, it could take longer. Dr Lawler advised a couple of months ago during an appointment, this particular hand is the more complex of the two. When looking at the second finger, it is obvious the finger is crooked. Two pieces of bone, in the shape of a circle, lie next to one another at the base of the finger. In this area, the growth plate is misshapen or the shape of the letter C. Our surgeon’s objective is to reshape the bone at the base of the finger and to correct the shape of the growth plate. A pin wil be placed in the end of the finger. Correcting the growth plate will require a graft of fat from the upper arm. This will leave a scar the size of a chickenpox. If additional skin is necessary to close, another skin graft will come off of her upper hip. Our surgeon has also advised she will not know completely what is necessary until she is inside of the hand. We took pictures, so other Sidney can see her hands prior to surgery when she gets older and for prospective special needs families can better understand the variety of complexities families encouter.

Our nurse let us know the pin is scheduled to come out by May 27. This is great news, as we are planning on a week of vacation in June. Worst case scenario, she will have a splint. We are hopeful this will also be gone making it easier to keep clean.

We have found the anxiety leading up to the actual event is less this time around. Like her last surgery, we feel empowered by our ability to do something which would have been out of the realm of possibility for Sidney’s birth parents. We have discussed the inability of people to seek medical treatment in China. We are certain her birth mom and dad fell into this category. When operations 1-25 are covered, and there is a lack of education, putting the pieces together becomes simplified.

In the midst of all of this, Sidney has found something she absolutely loves, crayons. We did not teach her to make circles however found her making them. Over and over and over with her right (hand which was completed in January) and her left hand. A budding artist? Only time will tell.

***As a side note, I have created a new blog on China adoption, international adoption, and anything in between. There is a lot of content available online, however I remember a lot of dated material while waiting. Some of the content is linked, however a good portion of the content will be written by yours truely. It is still under construction, and I am in the process of creating a blog button. As many of you already know, I freelance business content but nothing this fun. I also wanted another excuse to post the HTS blog button. They were integral in Sidney adjusting so quickly. Please add it to your reading list, each day will be something different hence the name http://www.musingsandmishmashofanadoptivemom.blogspot.com/