Thursday, March 27, 2008

Mixed Bag

So for Isabelle's 2nd week birthday, we paid a visit to the Children's Primary Hospital in SLC. Ugh! She had her first appointment with an orthopedic doc. I was not looking forward to this. I had no idea if this would be the first of many doc apts or not. I did dress her super cute in a denim jumper and ultra chic shoes from Kelly E... I figured we may not be happy about having to see a doc, but at least we can be fashionable doing it :-)

This doc actually doesn't think she has ABS, rather he believes that she has a form of brachysyndactyly. Apparently with the "brachy", not all cases have the webbing - as Isabelle does not have.. rather she just has the short fingers on her left hand. At this time the doc doesn't want to do xrays or anything.. too early at 2 weeks of age. I still want to get more info and a second opinion.. it's not that I don't trust or believe this doc, I just want to make sure we have all the information that is available. He too believes like our ped, that Isabelle will have amazing use of her left hand thanks to her normal sized thumb. And he doesn't think she will need surgery - this of course depends on how the bones form.

I guess that is the one positive.. no foreseeable surgeries.. Thank God for small favors..

And we're off today for Isabelle's 2 week Ped visit.. I'll be sure to fill ya'll in on how awesome she scores!!!

P.S.
I have the doc notes now. He diagnosed her with: Symbrachydactyly‏. The nurse seemed to think both terms referred to the same condition, but for those that are looking into this, you'll find that Symbrachydactyly‏ is a far better explanation.

4 comments:

Cynthia said...

Absolutely love the Easter chick picture. Adorable!

Sending you best wishes that all future dr. appts go well.

I'm not a big fan of the ped. office. I hate when they give babies shots and always had to look the other way when those mean nurses poked Tanner.

La Gitana Que Viaja said...

Lipstick and shoes!!! Start them early! :-)

Glad to hear that the docs are giving lots of good thoughts!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!
What a beautiful baby girl!
I came across your blog while doing some research on symbrachydactyly.
My son's second consultation with the hand specialist is coming up so I want to go in armed with as much info as possible.
My son has symbrachydactyly of his left hand and it looks very similar to that of your daughter.
My son is almost nine months old now and he uses his left hand extremely well. It's really amazing to watch. Your daughter will do the same I assure you.
A great place to go for advice or answers to questions is limbdifferences.org
It's a wonderful website.
If you have any questions or want to chat you can email me at
sidhedubh@hotmail.com
-Amanda R

Anonymous said...

Hello!
I also found your blog researching on symbrachydactyly. My daugher is 4 month old and her left hand has small fingers. We did some coulsulting and probaly she will have operation when she is 15-18 month old. She is my second child and she is my sunshine. Best to you and your family. My mother knows a lady, 70 years old with the same syndrom and she is doing everything even knitting :).
Your blog made me think of doing my own, that others in my country would find information I´d allready collected.