Don't Freak Out!

I'm saying this for myself and for the grandmas in the room.  Well, my children's grandmas anyway.  We recently learned that A has to have minor outpatient surgery on her thumbs.  Don't freak out!

She came to us several months ago crying that her thumb was "stuck."  I can't remember which one it was, but we realized that both her thumbs seemed double-jointed and would stick in a bent position and then she would have to push really hard to pop them straight again.  J had to help her straighten them a few times and she would complain that it hurt a little, but eventually she stopped complaining of any pain.  We didn't think it warranted its own doctor's visit, so I waited until we had to go for an ear infection to ask her pediatrician to look at her thumbs.  He referred us to a plastic surgeon who specializes in hands and we finally had our appointment last week.

The diagnosis is congenital trigger thumb.  Be careful if you try to google it, because most of the links have photos or videos of the surgery.  It's supposed to be a very simple surgery to correct and the doc felt like it was a good time to find it and correct it.  Left untreated, the joints could freeze up sort of like a rusty hinge.  She would lose range of motion and it could become more painful.  It will be a small incision at the base of each thumb to release the tendon that is catching inside.  My head swims just typing that.  Most of what I read online from parents is that it is harder for the grown-ups to watch their kids go through than it is on the kids.  I can relate to that.  Anyway, outpatient surgery, general anesthesia so she will be immobile since the site is so tiny and precise.  We scheduled it for March 22nd.  He said there was very little risk with the surgery, but the main thing to watch out for was infection of the incision site.  Recovery is very simple; dissolvable stitches and a gauze bandage at the base of her thumbs.

The doctor said that we didn't need to worry about her sucking her thumb since the incision would be well below what she puts in her mouth.  He also said it was in no way caused by her thumb-sucking. This was obvious to me when he pointed out that both thumbs are affected and her right thumb is actually more severe (she sucks her left).  I thought it might be a good opportunity to pull the plug on thumb-sucking, but J vetoed that in favor of minimizing the ordeal of surgery.  We'll keep our original goal of birthday #4 for thumb-quitting.

So, there you have it.  Don't freak out!  I keep telling myself that, but it's still surgery on my baby.  Uncharted waters.  A bit nerve-wracking.  I know she'll be fine, but I'll definitely feel better about it this time next month.