A Medical Update and Other Ramblings

I haven’t updated on Sidney’s hands in a long time. It’s hard to remember to write anything about her hands. Again, Sidney has fibular hemimelia. Fibular hemimelia means she is missing her fibula bone (smaller bone in back below the knee) on the left side. As a result, she has a limb difference with a smaller foot. Her smaller foot has four toes. Hand anomalies are common in people with fibular hemimelia. Sidney has three fingers on each hand with thumbs on each side. She had syndactyly or webbing on the right hand between her middle and pinkie finger. On her left hand, the middle finger was starting to grow wider instead of longer. 

Spending time as a family during the Boy Scout family swim.

Two reconstructive surgeries were completed, in January and May 2010. On the right side, her fingers were separated and on the left her growth plate was reconstructed on the impacted middle finger and pinned. If I had to guess, I say the left hand will require more treatment than the right. As she grows, the growth plate will probably continue to change. We have decided if surgery is based solely on cosmetic appearance, we will not move forward. If it is for better function, we will consider the doctors recommendations. Our next checkup with the hand surgeon is in October. If anyone runs across my blog and wants any information on orthopedic special needs, please feel free to contact me on the blog. Typically anomalies like Sidney’s are caused by environmental exposure or illness of the birth mother during preganancy. If we were to adopt again (more than likely we are done, can the price go down please???) , we would seek out orthopedic needs specifically.

Typically orthopedic needs are visible. A parent develops a thick skin and becomes very used to staring. It’s typically an unknowing glace, followed by overt staring. I don’t know how many times I have caught people staring as they quickly look away. I want to tell them, it’s ok. I hadn’t ever seen anything like this prior to adoption. If we were not Sidney’s parents, I would have the same natural curiosity. Staring doesn’t always mean something bad. Typically, it means someone is trying to find understanding. I have only received a few comments that were real zingers, so I am choosing to give people the benefit of the doubt. Actually, people make stupider comments on the basis of race which is an entirely different blog! Unfortunately racism creeps into the places a person least expects. And when we experience it, and we most certainly have, it never gets easier. Fortunately, it makes me more convicted each time. 

Daddy rocks....he takes me down the slide!

Since her last surgery was over a year ago, this break between any medical care is awesome. Sidney was in a cast, last June, so we only made it to the pool a handful of times.  We have definitely more than made up for lost time. By noon, the kids are climbing the walls, and it’s a great alternative to sitting in the air conditioning. This week it was 96 degrees, and none of us likes being inside very long. My other motivation is getting Eli caught up to speed swimming. He is great in the 3 ft., frolicking around, but he is not safe in any depth. I read an article on drowning deaths, so I have been vigilant about getting there as much as possible.

Tonight, we had a boy scout swim party. Much to Eli’s chagrin, this was a family swim! I loved going on an alternate time to public swim. Sidney with her prized $2 boat in the kiddie pool while I lounged around doing nothing is my speed for a Friday night.