10 4 Little Buddy

Evelyn can now only count to 10. That's right, we had her sixth "finger", whom we lovingly referred to as "Little Buddy", removed.

I will be honest, it was a little sad. Up to this point, it has just been a part of her. She would swing her hand around so that she could catch her finger and she would squeeze it in her fist.  Mikey even asked if we could make her a little squishy for her to play with after she lost her finger.

 The first time William held Evee he was squishing the finger, for it did have a joint. Seeing this disturbed me a little bit for I wasn't totally use to the finger. I soon found myself holding it and squishing it in a loving manner.

But it did need to be done. Besides the potential teasing she would get from other kids, I was scared that at some point it would fall off. Actually, at first I was really nervous that it would fall off, but after being with it for awhile, I realized how securely it was on her hand and no longer feared that it would be ripped off.

Because of her more concerning health factors, getting Evee's finger removed has not been a priority. Since everything has somewhat subsided, and since we've already paid our deductible for the year, we decided to go ahead and get her surgery.

The hand surgeon, Dr. E, whom Todd is in contact a lot with different consultations in the ER, wanted to have the surgery performed in the OR instead of his office. Though it was a very minor surgery, he wanted a more controlled setting, especially with all of Evelyn's health risks.
We went to the hospital and got signed in on October 1st. The nurse that was helping us was very nice, and like most of the doctors/nurses that we have been seeing, was shocked by two things, first, that Evee is our 5th child, and second, that Evee's breathing is so noisy.

They knew Todd was a resident, so he was allowed to go with Evee into the surgery. The nurse, wanting to warn a concerned father, asked if he was sure he would be able to handle seeing his baby get her finger cut off. Silly nurse had no idea of what Todd has had to witness with his daughter, the worst being the resuscitation.

She zonked out, high on milk, before going into surgery

Her feet out like this is her normal position

Everyone commented on how alert, happy, and social Evee was during the entire process. I was told that she gave just one short cry when she got the local anesthetic, but the rest of the time she just looked at Todd.

Todd said it was a little strange to see them just place the extra finger on the surgical plate after they were done. Little Buddy has been a part of our life and something very special to us. It has been something that the boys have told people about, in a bragging sense, excited to tell people how cool and special their little sister is.

After the surgery, Evee had to wear this wrap around her hand to protect it from getting hurt or infected. Of course she loved to lick the wrap, which was bumpy.

Evelyn recovered well and is still the same, minus Little Buddy