Bye Bye Piggy Party

So it looks like we will be throwing a "Bye Bye Piggy Party" on February 25th. What is that you ask? We will be saying Hasta La Vista to Parker's extra thumb, better known as his 11th piggy. We saw an orthopedic surgeon at Duke last week by way of recommendation from our good friends whose son, Ethan, had surgery with Dr. F. He was extremely knowledgeable and made us feel very comfortable. He basically told us that each finger has two tendons that run up and down, one on the right side of the finger and one on the left. Since Parker's extra digit is shared, he only has two tendons total for his double thumbs (see his x-ray below).

What Dr. F. has to do is 1) Remove the extra digit 2) Move the right most tendon from his 11th finger and set it to his real thumb. 3)Set his bone so that it grows straight (said he doesn't foresee having to pin his thumb but won't know until he gets in there.) Here is a run down of his upcoming surgery:

- It will last about 2 hours.

- It's an outpatient surgery.

- He will have to be put under anesthesia...but the good news is that it is going to be done by the Pediatric Head of the anesthesiology unit at Duke Hospital.

- He will have to wear a full arm cast up to his armpit for 6 weeks.

- He should not need any OT or PT.

- His thumb growth will be a bit stunted, resulting in a shorter, chubbier thumb than his left hand. If you look at the x-ray you can see the lower bone in his thumb is shorter and wider because of double growth.

- He should have full, normal function of his hand after surgery.

Keep us in your prayers as this surgery is coming a lot faster than I thought it would.

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