Hand Surgery on Toddler and Infant

Personally, I would be all for getting it all out of the way. You will work extra hard to care for them for a few months, but then they are done. I know when they do knee and hip replacements, they recommend doing them both at once, but that may be an issue of having to favor one leg over another instead of re-learning to walk correctly again. My therapist used to make me walk up and down the hall and if I even favored my bad leg, he would tell me to "do it right"....There's my two cents--Good Luck, your boys are lucky that you know what to expect and can help them with hints and not just medical advice.

I would suggest talking to another surgeon and get their opinion. Reccomend talking to Dr Carlton Klinkscales. the best hand doctor in Colorado. His phone number is ###-###-####, more info can be found here...http://www.hsacolorado.com/docs/clinkscales.html

As far as Physical Therapy is concerned, the earlier the better, but not too early (ie infant - you would have to do the manipulation of their hand for them, they would have trouble doing positive exercises ie griping etc on a schedule...)

Good Luck & God Speed!!

My daughter had a "dangling" thumb when she was born that was removed shortly thereafter. We had a policization done on her index finger (making it a thumb) when she was 14 months old. It is important to have the BEST surgeon do this.

I don't regret having it done as she uses it well, but even though we had the best hand surgeon in Denver, it was not done perfectly. When she was 9 I took her to an AMAZING surgeon named Dr Scott Kozin to have a tune-up. Dr Kozin is at the Shriner's hospital in Philadelphia and he specializes in childrens' hands. The Shriner's hospital is completely free to any child that needs it and it doesn't matter if you have insurance or not. I would suggest that you contact Dr. Kozin (find the info on the web or email me and I will give it to you) before you continue.

My daughter has a rare genetic disorder and the thumb thing is a common anomaly. Have doctors considered and tested your sons for any special disorders as thumb malformations commonly indicate such a thing. Also, knowing that you have 4 precious angels in heaven it really makes me wonder!

Please let me know if you need any more information as doctors commonly miss these "orphan diseases" and I don't want you to miss something that could help your sons.

Typically infants do not receive surgery on their hands until they are over a year because the size can make a difference in the success of the surgery.

I will be thinking of you all,
L.

Hi K.,
My son cut his flexor tendon in his hand when he was 14 months old - had surgery and then a cast for 6 weeks. He came through it very well and the cast did not slow him down a bit. My gut would be to do them separately. At their ages, they are learning so rapidly that you would not want them to be without at least one hand during this high learning time. Also, you do not want to have to do everything for them constantly as well. Hopefully, you will get a response from an occupational therapist that will let you know more about the development during that time. Talk to the drs and then go with your gut.
Good luck.
S.

I don't have any experience with it, but it seems to me it would be less frustrating for the kids to have use of at least one hand, but if they don't already have some use, maybe doing surgery together wouldn't be bad. What kind of physical therapy would they need? That might make doing one at a time easier as the pt will be no fun and a lot of hard work. I hope it all goes well. It must be a very hard, but necessary decision.

I'm sorry about your situation! The thought that came to my mind is - it sucks when both of my kids are sick at the same time. Would it be hard to take care of both kids with casts on their arms at the same time? Maybe doing it and getting it out of the way with doc appts and what not would be easier in the long run, but hard while it is happening!
Good luck!