Leah's Pinky Surgery

In December Leah became our first child to have surgery. It was a trigger finger release on her left pinky. Basically it was just stuck in the bent position because bands of tissue were wrapped around the tendon preventing it from stretching out. She's had it since she was born, but we never even noticed it until I'd been the nursery leader in our ward for about a year and a half. Week after week I'd trace her hand on the back of her coloring picture and week after week I'd tell her to straighten all her fingers out and lay them flat on the paper. Finally it dawned on me that she just couldn't straighten her pinky! We got a referral from our pediatrician for an excellent hand doctor and were scheduled for surgery about a week later.

Leah was not nervous at all about the surgery. We read "Franklin Goes to the Hospital" a lot of times in the weeks leading up to it, and so she was an expert on hospital protocol by the time the big day arrived. A few friends from the ward watched the other kids and got them to school that morning so Nate and I could both take Leah in bright and early at 6:30. The doctors and nurses took great care of her. I actually used to teach piano to one of our nurse's kids a long time ago, and it was fun to see her again.

She got to wear purple hospital clothes, which she definitely approved of, and got to watch tv while we waited for her turn to go back. The anesthesiologist came and she was totally calm as he wheeled her away. She got to take her blankie and her bear Radar back with her to the operating room. Her parents were mostly calm, and mostly not crying. General anesthesia is scary!

The hand doctor came and drew a smiley face right on the place he was going to operate on so he wouldn't forget which hand.

Anyway, we were only in the waiting room for about 20 minutes before they called us in to say she was done and had done great. No tears at all when she woke up, which I guess is quite unusual. And Radar even had the same color bandages as her! We got to snuggle her for a minute while she finished waking up all the way, and then she opted for a wheelchair ride down to the car, which she'd been highly anticipating.

We tried to get her the cheeseburger we'd promised if she could be brave, but it was only 9:30 in the morning, so that came later in the day. She really wasn't in much pain at all, and only had regular old ibuprofen a couple times over the next couple of days.

As one who gave up naps before age 2 and never looked back, this is Leah in the middle of the day after her surgery feeling the effects of anesthesia.

Her recovery has been good. She had two dissolvable stitches, which are finally gone as of about two days ago. We went in to physical therapy once, where the hand therapist was awesome and an expert on princesses. He told us all we needed to know and let her trace her hand in sharpie marker on his wall! We've been working with her at home, and she can almost straighten her pinky all the way out on her own now!