My parents had been waiting for this day for months. It was time to check in with Dr James at Shriner's on my hand surgeries. It got off to an interesting start at the check-in. A Shriner asked for my name. When Mommy told him, he shook his head and said "You actually named a child that?" Now Mommy thought this had something to with Peyton Manning. The Shriner shook his head (even more funny with such a funny hat on) and then said, "You're too young to know about that name." Mommy said she named me after the soap opera called Peyton Place. She said she heard about it when she was young and liked the name Peyton, although she had never seen the show. The Shriner explained that it was based on a book by the same name and it was a den of iniquity (absence of moral or spiritual values) and what a thing to name a baby after. So basically, he implied I was named after a whorehouse! So from this point forward if the crowd is over the age of 50, Mommy is going to say she named me after Peyton Manning!!!!!For those under 50 who have probably never read the book or seen the soap opera she'll say I was named after Peyton Place. (That's her story, and she's sticking to it).
After the fun of check in, it was on to radiology for my hand and shoulder xrays. I got to lay on a nice bed with a really soft pillow. Too bad they wanted me straight on my back because it was nap time and I kept trying to turn on my side to go to sleep. Mommy helped keep my shoulders and hands in place for my pictures.
Then back to the waiting room for the doctor to see me. I was really tired by now, so I held on to my lovey and tried to fall asleep while Mommy held me but no such luck. Just as I was getting comfortable it was time to go to the exam room. I sat on the table and played for awhile before the doctor and nurse came in. They watched me play with my favorite rattle and then gave me some toys of theirs to play with, too. Dr James went over the xrays with my parents and gave her opinion on the timeline for surgery. She still thinks it is best to amputate the thumb on my right hand and rotate the finger over to the thumb position. Then, she will shorten the finger so it looks more like a thumb. On the left hand, I used my fused finger really well. She wants to rotate it a little more to the thumb position, shorten it, and then cut off some of the extra so it looks more like a thumb. She said each surgery will be one night in the hospital and then six weeks of a cast. She wants to wait to start on the surgeries until I am a year old. If I have my trach out already, then the anesthesiologist will need to evalutate me to make sure I have a stable airway first and that I can be intubated for surgery. If I still have a trach in place, it shouldn't be a problem.
Dr James said although my fused forearms limit my ability to turn my arms that I am making up for it with a lot of flexibility in my wrists. She thinks the range of motion in my shoulders is improving a little. Because my PT was worried about my feet, she checked those out too. She doesn't think I will need orthotics but she is going to have my parents take me to a specialist in feet just to make sure. She wants my parents to come back with me in two months so we can start planning a time for the surgery. My parents hooked me up to my feeding, got me in my car seat and we headed back home.
After a nice long nap in the afternoon, I was a ball of energy for my parents tonight. Mommy spent some time flying with me and letting me "drop" really fast which I thought was great - lots of laughing. I started pushing myself forward from a sitting position on her tummy so I could get kisses from her. I may have a trach and a g-tube but I am not delicate! After all that rough playing it was off for a good night's sleep!
Peyton Nicole Smith
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