Scars are strong. Super duper ooper strong. They pull his left hand in and his right hand out. They pull his fingers down and the web space in.
This little guy's left hand was burnt so bad that the doctors could see the arteries on his hand. The ring finger was burnt to the bone. They had to take the very tip off.
I knew it was bad but with all that was going on back in the summer, I didn't process the severity. And I guess that makes me glad that he can use his hand at all. Right?
So, without the tip of the bone on his ring finger, the was nothing to keep the strong scars from pulling the finger down, in, and over. Scrunching it as short as his pinky. The skin was tight, sensitive, and broke down often.
We scheduled surgery for Thursday, the 27th. There was a time issue. We are headed back to Kauai on January 15th and want to get as much healing done here as we can. We also met our gigantic deductable the first 30 seconds we were on the life flight from Kauai to Oahu, and were hoping to tuck this last surgery into this year's expense. But Maximus had a cold and a little fever. They took his temperature and sent us home. With all the anesthesia and stuff, it's best to operate when they don't have to worry about lungs seizing up and things like that. Understandable. The doctor is, thankfully, one of the kindest people I know and told us he would come in on New Years Eve.
Here is Maximus afraid to look up when all the doctors were checking him out. He sort of put his head down and waited for them to leave. It was so funny/sweet/sad.
We kept Maximus in all weekend, cut back the sugar, and did our best to make sure he got lots of rest. It worked. When we took him in today, they said it would be fine to operate. Not ideal, but fine.
Phew.
Let me tell you, a toddler is silly. A loopy toddler on preanesthetic meds is about the funniest thing I have ever seen. He wanted his socks off his feet and onto his hands. His head was all the sudden too heavy for him to hold up but not to move around. We were cracking up. A little comic relief for when we are so worried about what was to come. Next we waited. It took a little over two hours.
Dr. Morris came in and said things went great. His lungs did seize up once and they treated him right away. They release a few scars on the left hand and put in a graft, taking the skin from his right hip area. They also released a little bit from the right hand. So now he has a giant club bandage on his left and a small bandage on his right.
He seems so much older now. Enough to tell us where it hurts. And that he wants his bandages off. Over and over and over. Poor guy.
He is coping. He is sleeping, and watching the iPad, and, well, doing some crying and bossing around. All to be expected, I guess.
Me? Well I have been playing possum this day. It's stressful and my instinct seems to be to fall asleep. Overall, things are great. In the thick of things I will try and fight my urge to sleep it away.
We are glad to be here with family. We are glad to be relaxing after such an insane holiday season. November and December are always crazy for us.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support and love. I will keep you posted on his progress.
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