Tate has two thumbs. One, the left, is perfect in every way. He has deemed it "suckworthy", as it is the one he chooses to pop in his mouth when he settles down with his blankie. His other thumb, the right, is different. It's smaller than the left and looks a little bit like a finger. He can't grab large objects with it, and he can't pick up very small things like peas. It is very loosely attached to his hand and bends down to his wrist when any pressure is applied. If you look closely at this picture of Tate playing with his See-N-Say, you can see the difference in his thumbs.
This is Tate at 6:00 AM Wednesday morning. We're driving to Primary Children's with Growlers and his blanket in tow. He is about to have surgery to fix some of the problems with his thumb. He has no idea what is about to happen. Poor kid.
This is Tate at 11:00 AM, right after surgery. The doctor moved one muscle from the pinky side of his hand over to his thumb, since he is missing quite a bit of muscle. He also tightened up his ligaments, and created more webbing between his thumb and fingers. He has a hard cast just over his hand, with a pin holding his thumb in place. A soft tape cast goes up to his armpit.
This is Tate at 12:00 PM. He has thrown up twice and is just trying to completely wake up after all that anesthesia. He wasn't a happy camper.
This is Tate at 5:00 PM on Thursday. He is doing so well. He struggled a little bit more with the pain this day, but he didn't shy away from using his hand. He can still play with his toys, do patty-cake, and give high fives.
I love this happy face!! I'm glad it's back. Five weeks in the cast, then it will be replaced by a splint for three months. We hope his thumb is working much better after all of this. Thank goodness for Tate's happy disposition.
