All ready to go!
Waiting on the cast-removal technician...
Annnnnnd they are off!
No cutting needed. Emma said she wanted to slide it off herself...and slide off her arm cast did.
Hilarious!
Look at me! Look at me!
Then we waited a little bit to be assigned a room for the final unwrapping, washing, viewing, oohing and aahing.
Emma's fingers and calf will be wrapped in sterile bandages for about a week more, as her skin grafts complete their healing.
It all looks GREAT!
Adorable little toes, nicely healing hand, calf coming along beautifully!
Her calf was so even and straight. Sort of took my breath away, the change.
Dr. Van Heest was pleased.
Emma's left foot surgeries are complete, we believe! A huge milestone.
And in what I am now learning is the ever-changing "best laid plans" world of medicine and healing, our plans for what is next have shifted. And so have the dates. For whatever stupid reason, the date change has me ruffled. Knowing summer for Emma will now entail a cast, makes me really sad. Really.
It will be good, but I'm adjusting to the shift and working on not feeling thrown by the change. I guess it has taken me forty years to fully realize how much I like well-laid plans and reliable schedules and information. I am a planner and I like things to be organized. And clean. And neat. And I like to be the one throwing the schedule for a loop, not the other way around. Silly me.
SO. The change will be good. It really is for the best. And it will, in another way, give Emma an easier surgery. That matters immensely.
Here's what's up:
Dr. Van Heest would like to complete the surgeries on Emma's right hand before we move over to her left hand. She needs a second and fourth digit syndactyly release, and this will accomplish the full separation of all the digits on her right hand. Skin will be grafted again to complete the construction of her middle finger. As of now it looks as if she has four fingers. This will define all five.
Our next surgery will entail the right hand, and our other surgeon, Dr. Fletcher, will complete the z-plasty on the remaining 20% of her calf. The remaining constriction is on the back of her calf.
The good news about all of this, is that excess skin from the z-plasty will be used to construct the middle finger on her right hand, thus eliminating the need to graft skin from her elbow area or elsewhere. A huge benefit.
Another piece of good news is that Emma will only need one cast this time. They will again cast her right arm, but no cast is needed to protect her leg. She will just be well-bandaged.
No surgery on her feet will occur in our next round of surgery. That will be in our third stage, which we are not even talking about scheduling right now. We will discuss that after this next surgery is complete.
My feeling is that giving Emma a break, and allowing July and August to be pool, sand, summer-glory fun is best. And letting her start kindergarten without casts, etc is also important. I think {hold that loosely now!} that we will do the next surgery sometime in the fall. And that also will be determined by any palate procedures that are scheduled. {and yes, typing that all out just made me tired}
So, here we are! Casts off. Spirits soaring, for Emma. And we are heading to a long, hot soak in the bathtub for the mermaid.
After three weeks, she's earned it!
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