Recent Pics of Bryn's Hands

Bryn had a hand appointment last week. The dr. said he is so proud of the progress she has made. He is amazed at how well she uses it. Most people do not even notice that her hands are a little different. She is in gymnastics and does most of the things the other kids do. She is strengthening her arms and hands all the time. It still amazes me to watch her use them and she has been using them for almost over a year!

Using her Thumb

Silly Kenna

Silly, Dirty Bryn

Smiles

Holding her grape

Using her fork

Holding her grape with her right hand

Tyler and I have been so proud of Bryn. She has been using her thumbs so well. Here are a few pictures we took while eating dinner.

Almost 5 weeks Post-Op

Bryn gets to see the dr. on Tuesday. I am sure he will be shocked that only 5 weeks post-op she is using her thumb. Today at church she was eating popcorn by grabbing it with her thumb and finger out of the bag. Not her right thumb....but her brand new, 5 week old thumb. Also tonight at dinner she picked up a cookie the same way. She has been holding things in her new thumb space. Last time she really didn't use her thumb for about 3 months later. Her left thumb is definitely not as mobile as her right, but she is using it. It is pretty cool!

Pretty Neat

Today Bryn had PT. I wasn't expecting anything exciting. Her wraps were off and I was just happy to show the PT her new thumb. But then something pretty exciting happened. Bryn was using her new thumb. She didn't move it, but she was using it to hold things. She held a pencil, marker, coins, puzzle piece and Mr. Potato head parts in between her finger and new thumb. The PT was shocked and so was I!! That is pretty cool!

4 weeks Post-op

Today marks 4 weeks since Bryn's surgery. The little bugger wouldn't let me hold her hand long enough to get a picture. It is healing up. Still not as fast as we would like. I am a little more disappointed in how this one looks. I am hoping with time it will get better. Bryn definitely notices that it is there. She got it wet for the first time last night. I put her in the tub. She didn't get it too wet though. Right after she got out I cleaned it with rubbing alcohol and let it air dry. We took her warp off today while we were at home. When I took her out I re-wrapped it so the germs would stay off of it. Bryn has gotten so good at taking off her wrap. No matter how hard I try to secure to her hand...she gets it undone! Crazy girl. Maybe I will be able to pin her down to take a pic.

3 Week Post-Op

Bryn had a cast put on again last week. I noticed on Thursday that is started slipping off. We called the dr. on Friday and he told us to come in today (Mon). I am so glad we took her in. Today it was almost all the way off her hand. Her fingers had been smashed together. Her wrist was in a funny position as well. Her hand had been sweating a lot and her fingers were raw in between them. The dr. said he thought her hand looked great. He laughed and said...it might look a little ugly right now, but it looks great! Once again...the Dr. knows what he is talking about! He cleaned it up with some alcohol and pulled of the scab. He then re-dressed it with only gauze. He didn't put a cast back on. He told us that he we could cancel our appt. next week. I asked if he was sure...he said yea. I told him our summer plans and he said he would see us in Aug. I told him I would feel better if he saw her before then and he told us he would see her back in 2 weeks. He told us we could take off the gauze in 5 days and leave it off for good. He said in 5 days she can get it wet and treat it like normal. So weird. I think I am more nervous with her new thumb this time than last time. It just looks more fragile too me.

2 week Post-Op

Bryn and her new 'club'

Bryn getting her cast cut off

Today was Bryn's 2nd week Post-op appt. We were all ready for Bryn to lose her 'club' today. I was more prepared to see her thumb today...or so I thought. When the Fellow took off her cast it almost looked like her thumb was hanging off. I thought my worst nightmare had come true and her thumb didn't connect. But when I took a look from a different angle I could tell it was on there :). I still thought it looked horrible. The dr. said it looked great. But apparently the gauze moved away from her hand and let some moisture in. It was nothing we could have prevented because we couldn't see her hand...it was covered by the cast. So the incision wasn't able to dry up and scab. The dr. re-dressed it and made her a new cast. She has her cast on for another 2 weeks. Which means...no outside going to the park, swimming or the zoo. The next few weeks are going to be super super boring. The dr. doesn't want her sweating and getting more moisture than what would normally be there. So inside air conditioning house...you get to love the girls and I for at least 2 more weeks!

Bryn was pretty happy to have her cast off, for the 20 minutes. She was looking at her thumb trying to make it work. She wanted to to try and suck her thumb and she kept playing with it.

Post-Op Pictures

Her right hand...look at her use that thumb to hold her popsicle.

Kenna also loves popsicles

Bryn loves popsicles

Kenna loves making silly faces

This is the best picture I could get of the 2 of them together. Makenna's head looks way funny, but oh well.

Her 'club'

Her left hand

She is a total Monkey. She loves climbing over everything!

Bryn's 'club' hasn't been slowing her down a bit. She is still climbing, running and jumping over everything. She is a crazy kid. Makenna has been helpful with Bryn. Bryn should be getting her cast off on Tuesday and hopefully it will make her less frustrated.

One Week Post-Op

For some reason I had it in my head that the dr. was going to take off Bryn's cast today and wrap it in only gauze. Well I was wrong. We drove 20 minutes down to his office and spent a total of 7 minutes in his office. We were called back very quickly. I had my camera ready this time. He came in...said hello...looked at her fingers tips and said we were good to go. He told us her fingers look great (warm and pink) and he told us to come back next Tuesday and we should be able to unwrap it. So that is the story. She has her club for another week. I haven't taken very many pictures this time. I need to bust out the camera.

Since Surgery

Bryn has been so amazing since surgery. She has slept through the night every night. She has been happy, for the most part. She has been whiney because she is frustrated that she can't pick things up with her favorite hand. She hates her sponge baths. She took pain meds on Wednesday every 6 hrs., took them Thurs. only when she woke up and at bed time, and only had plain tylenol all day today with a little bit of pain meds to go to bed. How amazing is it to go a whole day without pain meds only 3 days after surgery!?! It has been great having my mom here. She has been a BIG help with the girls. Bryn doesn't even want me...she just cuddles with my mom. It has been nice to have company while Tyler is gone studying.

Photos from Surgery

Reading books before surgery

Bryn and Tyler

So cute

She is beautiful

Seriously mom? Why am I up so early? And you want to do what to my finger?

Grammy Catherine and Bryn before surgery

Mommy and Bryn

Coming out of anesthesia

Ah....poor baby

Grammy makes it all better

Grammy L and Bryn

Papa, Bryn and Daddy

Bryn was so happy to see Kenna

Waking up happy the morning after

Bryn's favorite cousin

Mommy, Daddy and Bryn

Home From The Hospital

The dr. came and checked us out from the hospital at about 6:45 am. We were discharged and home by 8am. Bryn had a rough evening. She was tired of having the IV in her hand and having a 'club' on her other hand. I was able to get her to calm down and go to sleep at about 9pm. She slept lightly all night. She tossed and turned and sometimes made groaning noises. At 2:30am the nurse came into give her an antibiotic through her IV. She had to hook an IV pump up to her. Bryn slept through it until the medicine started going into her IV. It had to be kept in the fridge so it was cold. The minute it got into Bryn she started screaming. She had to keep the pump on for 30 minutes. So my mom and sat and talked to her and gave her some coke for about 30 minutes. Then we laid her down and she went back to sleep. She was asleep until the dr. came in to check her out and turned on the light. She has been happy to get down on the floor and play and run around at home. She is taking a nap right now. What a trooper!

After Surgery

Bryn got out of surgery about 10:30am this morning. The dr. let us in a little earlier than normal and Bryn was still coming out of anesthesia. It was kind of scary. She was super groggy and wanted to keep falling back asleep. Bryn has had a cold and the anesthesiologist knew that. He listened to her lungs and said she sounded good and he was ready for the surgery. Well when he took us back it was concerned because her breathing tube came out with a ton of green/yellow junk inside of it. He told us to make the antibiotic she is on will cover the nasty green stuff that was in her. She was really happy to see both of her grammy's when she woke up. It is about 2pm and she is still super groggy. There hasn't been much crying. She has been eating ice chips and falling in and out of sleep. The nurse just came in and said that the antibiotic works for respiratory stuff...so she should be on her way to feeling better by this evening. She is awesome. I would be curled up in a bawl whining right now. But Bryn...she has been awesome!

Surgery Take 2

I will post updates just like last time. It is 7:20am and we have been at the hospital for almost 2 hours. The anesthesiologist came in and checked Bryn and cleared her for surgery. We got here at 5:30am and saw the nurse that checked her vitals. Surgery was supposed to start at 7 and we did not see a dr. till almost 6:45am. Dr. Rayan came in and said hello and told us the surgery would be about 3-4 hrs. Then the anesthesiologist came in and listen to her lungs and cough. He told us the drainage was most likely from allergies and if we waited for her "allergies" to go away she would be 25 before surgery :). Now Bryn is back being operated on. We hope all goes well and that she comes back grumpy...but awake!!! We had the same nurse, Beth, and Bryn cried for about 2 seconds when we handed her off, but then seemed to calm down. And surprise...surprise...guess who went into surgery with her!? Minnie mouse! They let Minnie go back with her.

Surgery Scheduled

Bryn's second surgery is finally scheduled. It is set for May 25, 2010. Unfortunately it is about a month later than we expected. I was not very happy about the date. But the nurse said nothing could be done because the hospital was booked for early morning/long cases. I had her put me on the list for cancellations. So if anyone cancels they will give me a call. I am excited to have a date and am ready for Bryn to have both of her thumbs. She is one of the coolest little kids I know and I want her to have the opportunity to do all the same things other kids do. As of now...her surgery is May 25th!

Ps....Tyler graduates May 16th!! :)

Hand Appt.

So we learned nothing new today! We sat around for about 25 minutes before anyone came into the room. Then a resident came in and just asked how things were and what we wanted to do next. Then about 25 minutes after that the Dr. came in and asked for the nurse to take an x-ray of her left hand so we had a current one. Then about 25 minutes after that the Dr. came in and said he would schedule surgery. We are going to do it at the end of April or beginning of May. We are waiting to hear from his office to know what they have planned. They should call us within the next few days. We didn't learn anything we didn't know. We will meet with the Dr. one week before her surgery. He said her left hand looked good and should do just well with the surgery. He was pleased with how her right hand was doing as well.

Bryn's Hand

I love this one. It is precious.

Bryn still has swelling that the dr. said could take another 3 months to completely go away. He said that was completely normal. We are pleased with the surgery and how things look and starting to move!

4 Week Post-Op

On Friday we took Bryn to the hand dr. for another check. He took the wrappings off and left them off. She now has a hand to use. The stitches are all gone. Her hand is still pretty swollen, which he said it could take a few months for the swelling to go down. He wants us to encourage her to use her hand by placing toys in her space and try and get her to use her right hand and not her left. Her hand looks really good. I will post some pictures maybe in the next week or so. It is so crazy how much it looks like a thumb. She is moving the top part of her thumb, but we are trying to get her to move the whole thing. She is supposed to start physical therapy this coming week and go once a week for about a month and then just have an at-home program. She will the Dr. next Friday and then see him once a month after that!

3 Weeks Post-Op

Bryn saw the dr. again today. He unwrapped her and looked at her hand. It looked a lot better than it did last week. The dr. said things looked great. He cleaned it up a little. He was going to leave it unwrapped until he saw how Bryn reacted to her thumb. haha. Right after the assistant unwrapped her hand she started trying to suck on her thumb and eat the stitches. He didn't want her to get it wet or bite it so he re-wrapped it until week. We still have to keep a sock on it so she doesn't eat the gauze. She is a crazy girl. She is getting better and better with how she reacts to the people in the "white coats." As long as she had her bunny and her binky, she did okay! Good job Bryn.

Bryn's 2 week Post Op Appt!

I'm a big girl now!

Bryn with her cute sock! haha. We put a sock on her hand to protect the guaze. The minute the dr. put it on she started eating it! haha

Daddy and Bryn in the waiting room before getting her cast off

At home before leaving to the dr.

Look...I have a thumb!

Mom let go of my hand.

Look...I have a thumb!

My "new" cast for the week!

Last Tuesday we went and saw Dr. Rayan. He checked the tip of her thumb and said it looked great and told us to come back in a week to take the cast off. So today we went in. I was totally prepared to take pictures. I was mentally prepared to see swelling and stitches and a new thumb. But when the cast came off I was not prepared to see the amount of swelling she had and the big "blob" she has between her fingers. I had the camera ready to take a picture and I just couldn't do it. Tyler was holding her and she was screaming. She wasn't in pain...just ticked that dr.'s were touching her again. The dr. then wrapped her hand up in guaze and told us to come back in a week. He said her finger looked perfect...just the way it is supposed too. I said, "I guess that is the difference between the parents and the professional. Because I think it looks bad." Dr. Rayan was really positive. He said that the "blob" would fall off on its own, like an umbilical cord, in about a week to 10 days. The thumb itself looks good. It's the incision that scared me. It is so hard to see your child go through something like this. I wish I could do it for her. It looked super painful. Oh man. My heart just hurts for her. But she is an amazing little girl and such a brave little girl! Maybe next week it will look a little bit better and I will be able to take a picture of the whole hand. Tyler did have to remind me that most of the post op pictures we have seen have been at least 6-10 weeks post surgery and that this is only 2 weeks after.