Hand Surgery Update

Jordan and I went up to Orange today to see her hand surgeon, Dr. Neil Jones. This is her usual UCLA hand surgeon who has now moved to UC Irvine. I am SO thankful for him and for his wisdom. I found an article online last night about him. It is an article on UCI's site talking about the top hand surgeon they recently hired - Dr. Jones. Here's the link:
http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1786

He went over her x-rays again and still has the same plan as before. Between now and her third birthday (she's turning two next month) he will take bone from her leg and pin it to the bone that's already in her thumb (the lowest bone in the thumb that is closest to the wrist). The bone will grow together and the pins or rod will be removed six weeks later or so. One concern he has is that there is no bone to connect it to on the other end meaning she will have the lowest bone connected to the next one from her leg but there is no bone in the tip of her thumb to attach the other end of the new bone to. Yes, I know it's terribly confusing without seeing a picture. Anyway, when new bone is attached by only one end the end that is not connected to existing bone slowly dissolves. This means that her longer more stable thumb will have to be redone. They can't continue to redo it her entire life. They can only redo it twice. Long term this is not such a great prognosis but we are figuring that the worst case is that her thumb will be back to the way it is now which is not so great (no pincer grasp on that hand - basically no opposable thumb) but maybe medical advances will be as such by then that she can have something else done. He was considering taking a toe and putting it in the place of her thumb but she doesn't have enough good toes to work with. Bummer.

Our plan now is to see Dr. Oppenheim (the orthopedic foot specialist at UCLA who we will see in a month) to find out when he wants to do the surgery on her foot. We will then find out if he wants to coordinate with Dr. Kawamoto when he does her face and artificial tear duct. If so my guess is that they'll do it next summer/fall which means Dr. Jones can do her thumb surgery this fall or winter.

It's funny how I used to go to doctor's appts anticipating and focusing on what the doctors would say about Jordan. I would speculate, ruminate, wonder, obsess about what the plan would be for her. My perspective has begun to shift. Of course I'm praying before I go for wisdom and for discernment for the doctors and us as we plan her course but more now I'm praying for opportunities to share Christ or to influence people for God. I'm also praying specifically for her doctors in their own lives as opposed to simply as they relate to Jordan. Today I was praying on my way that I would be able to meet and talk with people about God and all that he's done, that lives would be changed from my time at this office. I will admit/confess I was skeptical. However as I was filling out papers a woman who had been in a terrible auto accident began talking to me about God and Heaven. She said that God had special plans for Jordan because of her challenges. I told her that God has special plans for all of our lives regardless of our challenges. We talked about Heaven and briefly how to get there. During that conversation a woman walked up getting my attention and I realized it was an old friend I taught with years ago. Her son was in a JetSki accident in high school and lost part of his thumb. He and Jordan have the same doctor and I had forgotten but this woman told me about Dr. Jones before we even had Jordan. We ended up talking for such a long time about trusting in the Lord, examining ourselves to be certain we are in the faith, how trials and our response to them can work out our faith in the Lord. It was great to share the work that Christ has done in my life and also nice to talk to someone who has been where I am now running from therapy appt to doctors appts, wondering how it's going to work out. We talked until the office was nearly closed and I can't wait to keep in touch with her. God is so good and DOES indeed provide. I prayed for His will during this appt and for Him to be glorified and look what happened!
Okay we are still recovering from our trip to my mom's so I am exhausted and still on east coast time. I must sign off for tonight.
I did get a cd of all of Jordan's x-rays from UCLA today. They are so cool! I am dying to post them on the blog so you all can see the bones in her hands and feet. I just can't figure out how to do it yet. When I do I'll post them.
Thanks for reading such a long post.
:) Good night!