From the Playground to Surgery - But He's Just a Babyby Heather Long | More from this Blogger 19 Apr 2007 06:51 AM It happened Monday afternoon. My nephew was spending the afternoon with his father and his father took him to a playground. My nephew is just 18 months old and while he was playing on a flexible bridge and toddling across it, he fell over and got the fingers of his right hand caught in a portion of the equipment. The baby reacted badly to being held tightly and yanked his hand out. A Nightmarish Odyssey My sister-in-law, the baby's mother, works in a pediatrician's office. My nephew was taken there immediately and then transported to the emergency room. They were there for more than 9 hours while the physician's examined his hand and sutured it. When he yanked his hand free, he ripped the nail off of his pinky and lacerated it. His thumb was also pinched and swollen. A long, exhausting night later, they took the baby to see the specialist because of the damage to his tiny little finger. The nail had been ripped out. There was just a small sliver of it left and the damage to the nail bed bled for quite some time and that was after they put sutures into it. The specialist wanted to perform surgery in order to assure that the nail would grow back in correctly. Surgery & A Baby Surgery can be dangerous for an adult, much less a toddler. There's the anesthesia, the treatment and the recovery afterwards. Imagining this tiny little person being anesthetized, it's heart wrenching. Yesterday morning, at 6 a.m., my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law carried the baby up to the hospital for the surgery. The surgery was scheduled to take 30 minutes, but it took longer. The specialist repaired the damage to the nail bed so the nail would be able to grow in properly. He was also able to redo all of the sutures in order to minimize and hopefully remove the scarring and potential long-term disfigurement. His arm was placed in a cast from his fingertips to just under his shoulder in order to give the area full protection while it healed. It took him a while to come out of the anesthesia, but he woke up and began smiling and laughing. He was himself. He has another week in the cast and it's going to be a little hard for him to move around for a bit, but the prognosis is incredibly positive and what could have potentially hampered the movement and growth of that very small, very fragile pinky - will heal. Take Care of Your Little Ones Moms, Dads - this is more important than you can realize. Our infants and our toddlers are very fragile beings. They bounce, they play, they fall down and they get up. They are magnificent and they are irreplaceable. Always be aware of where your little one is and what they are doing. Don't let them play for even a moment unsupervised especially on playground equipment designed for children much older. Toddlers are unsteady on their feet. They trip. They fall. They lose their balance. My nephew lost his fingernail and at the age of just 18 months, he's already had his first surgery. Our babies have a lot of firsts that we are privy and privileged to enjoy - surgery shouldn't be one of them. Learn more about Heather Long  Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago. Relevantbaby tags User Comments Discuss this article
|
Baby categories |
