To Tell of His GRACE: Hand Surgery

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Hand Surgery

We went to see the hand surgeon Tuesday out at Children's. We really like him a lot! He is a solid Christ-follower and does a lot of missions work all around the world with orphans! He has done many surgeries at orphanages in China! He does cleft lips and hands mostly. He explained to us that Kaylee's polydactyly is a bit more complicated as her "regular" thumbs are more like fingers. So we will do this initial surgery and watch her over the next couple of years to see how much movement she has and if there are any hinderances with her mobility then she may need a 2nd surgery --- praying that Jesus does MORE than we are asking or imagining with this first surgery! She will have surgery May 7th! They bumped her up and got her in since she is already 2 1/2 and they like to do this surgery at birth for the brain to function with using the proper thumb.

We went to the Occupational Therapist today - LOVE her! She is a feeding specialist and gave me some things to work on for the next month at home (since she will have her surgery and be recovering). She also pointed out Kaylee's ring toe - we have noticed that it pulls under her other toes next to it but didn't think much of it...she said that it is her tendon in her foot that is too tight and would need to be "clipped" in order to free up that toe to go up with the other toes - something she will need done sooner or later in order to walk correctly, so she suggested that we ask the surgeon to do it all at once. We have a call in to him and we are hoping that he can take a look at her to see what he thinks.
One thing the OT has me doing is "swiping" food into her mouth (like just inside her lips, onto her teeth). Things like crunched up Cheerios, cold vanilla pudding, apple sauce, other purred foods...she said to even try mustard and sauces! Trying to introduce various foods, textures and temperatures. I just casually swipe her here and there as we play (no eye contact - just supposed to act like nothing just happened). So far it is working - she makes funny faces but moves the food around...even when the OT had me give her a larger crumb of Cheerios she just worked it around and did not gag. We are praying that she LOVES all these foods and just wants more and more! I am also massaging her jaw muscles, as they are super tight and trying to get the toothbrush into her cheeks to stretch those out (with her mouth shut all the time she needs her cheeks and jaw muscles loosened in order to be able to chew properly). So we're working on it! Thank You Jesus for leading us to a GREAT OT who is so positive and encouraging!!!