I love Shriners!

Well we had our appt at Shriners's...

What an amazing place. The hospital was immaculate and beautiful inside and every single person that we dealt with was kind, supportive, and super friendly. My big girls' jaws dropped when they saw the waiting room at Outpatient Services. It was like a huge Funland. LOL. They both got a bunch of books, stickers, and crayons.

We were there for about four hours, saw three different drs(including a hand specilaist), and had xrays taken. As far as her extra digit, the specialist strongly advised against removing it. He said Sarah's circumstance is a little different from most of the ones he sees. Her fifth and sixth finger share a knuckle. We would have to remove the fifth finger, since even though it grasps with her other fingers, it only does so because she actually has a web between the fingeres and it pretty much just gets moved along with the rest. If we did remove it however, he said he would have to shave the bone and move her pinky finger over because otherwise there would be a very large space between the fingers. Doing that would more than likely cause her to lose function in that finger. It would wind up being a "stiff little finger" that basically just sits there. He didn't think it was a good option because her fingers function fine the way they are.

I am at peace with that. This time it was presented to us in a positive way, we looked at the xrays with him as he explained it, and had all the time in the world to ask him questions. So, we're not going to seek any more opinions. He told us that he is sure we could find a surgeon who would do it but he believes very strongly in what he is telling us and that it's not worth risking.Her arms are pretty much the same story. Not much can be done. The bones in her forearms are basically "too long" and prohibit her from straightening her arms. In the xrays, it looks like they grew right past where her elbow is and it pretty much lock her arms at a certain point. We are however going to follow up on this next year along with her leg length discrepency.

So, even though I didn't want to hear that nothing can or should be done, I feel OK about it now. I loved Shriners. We were there all morning and one of the nurses came in and gave us a card so we could all get free lunch in the cafeteria. They were truly awesome and I am so glad we went.

Other VERY exciting news...we got the scholarship from the CdLS Foundation and will definitely be attending the conference this summer. I am way excited! I just sent out a check for the balance (to attend the banquet) and we will be all set. Sarah's social worker said she can help us raise the money for the hotel room so that will be taken care of. We'll be driving, so gas money is the last thing to save up. It should be fine though. I can't wait to meet everyone. I'm sooooo thrilled!!!

All in all, I had a pretty darn good week. Oh and Meeshi...if you are reading this...I've been writing to some companies and got tons of coupons(Amy's, Brown Cow, White Wave, etc) so thanks for posting that tip at Amitys!! *SMOOCH*