Shriners Hospital

We finally had Andie's thumbs looked at. After her 2 year check up with her pediatrician he seemed a little concerned about her small motor skills and how they would develop while she is growing. I had made an appointment with Shriners Hospital a few months back but cancelled because of money issues. Once that doctor had a concern the appointment was quickly made back up and we went to her appointment on Monday August 4th.

At the appointment we filled out all the paperwork and Andie ran around the fish tank in total amazement. She loved it! We then made our way back to the room to be seen by the hand doctor. Andie was loving the room full of toys just for her to play with. She had a different idea once the doctor walked in.

Dr. Wong's intern came in and asked us questions, looked and Andie's hands and Zach's hands and left to give report to the doctor. Moments later the nurse came in and said lets go to X-ray. Zachary was super excited because he is going to school to be a Radiologist, it is in his field of interest! We were taken to the waiting room and there was even more toys plus Toy Story 3 was playing on the TV so Andie was still in heaven.

We finally went back to the X-ray room and Andie was a little unsure what was going on. They put the big heavy vest on Zach and then a smaller one on Andie, she was really nervous now and the tears started. The whole time she was not a happy camper as the techs adjusted her hand in different positions to get the X-rays. It ended all to quickly for Zach and took years to end for Andie.

We finally all settled back into the room to wait for the doctor on the results of Andie's thumbs. Andie discovered the lights you use to look at X-rays and they became her new favorite toy. When Dr. Wong came in we looked at Andie's thumb X-rays and were a little surprised by what we saw. Yes I always knew she had her curved thumbs but to find out that both of the tips of her thumbs is a bone growing apart into 2 thumbs was a little shocking. Thankfully she was born early!

We made another appointment for a year to give her time to grow more. The bigger the bones the easier the surgery will be (if we decided to do it). Now comes the hardest part of being a parent; deciding if we do surgery to take out the extra bone in her thumbs or let it be? I just want what is best for my daughter. I don't want Andie to be self conscious about her thumbs, I think she is perfect, but I don't know what she will think when she is a teenager. Decisions, Decisions, what shall we do?

After the adventure at Shriners Hospital Andie was very tired but couldn't rest until she saw and held her brother. She loves Jake so much!