A day in the life...: The story of Madeline's toe.

The Problem: Polydactyly most commonly refers to the presence of 6 toes on one foot.
The Frequency: Incidence is 1.7 cases per 1000 live births
The Etiology: Polydactyly may occur as an isolated trait or there is a positive family history in 30% of cases
The Presentation: The patient may present in infancy or at a later date when cosmesis or shoe fit becomes a concern.

The Background:
It was 10:30pm on August 20th. I uncovered Madeline for the first time since she was born just 2 short hours before...I counted her little fingers, and then her little toes...1, 2,3,4,5...1,2,3,4,5....6?!?!?!
Some of our readers may or may not be aware that Miss. Madeline was born with 6 toes on her right foot. This is known as a Polydactyly of the foot. As you can see from her photo below, she looks as though she has an extra "big toe". And....she does....rather, she did. On Cinco de Mayo we celebrated by having that extra digit removed by an outstanding Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon from Gillette Children's Hospital as well as the University of Minnesota Children's Hospital. He has also been honored in Mpls/St.Paul Magazine Top Doctors both in 2008 and 2009.

Surgery Day: We checked into the hospital at 12:00pm on Tuesday afternoon where we were visited by a Nurses Assisstant, the Pre-Op Nurse, the Nurse anesthetist, Anesthesiologist and of course, our surgeon, Dr. Kevin Walker, M.D.
"Do you have any questions?" was commonly asked by each one them. Of course we have questions: how long have you done what you do, how many babies have you worked on, how can I be sure you won't give my baby too much anestheisia? Etc., Etc., Etc. My favorite was the anesthesiologist. He asked us, "Have you or anyone in your family had a reaction to anesthesia?" I responded with, "By 'reaction' what do you mean, exactly?" He said, "Has anyone died.". Ouch. Ah, no. Thank God. That's not the answer I was looking for, but he was honest, so I won't get upset. The Nurse anesthetist was a sweetheart. She presented the option for us to go into the OR with Madeline while they began to administer her anesthesia. I was briefly interested in doing this, but quickly decided that my emotions would get the best of me and thought the best idea was for us to carry her as far as we could before she went in. And so that's what we did. I handed her off to the Nurse and John took my hand and we quickly turned to walk in the opposite direction. John's eyes instantly filled with tears and then mine. (Damn I said to him....he was supposed to be my rock and keep me from falling apart, he's not doing his husbandly duties here...sap sap sap!) Anyway, we had a brief moment, turned our heads to see our little angel walking toward her OR. Her little self just bouncing along in the arms of the Nurse. This is for the best. Kids are mean, she needs 10 toes only. She needs to have the cutest Jimmy Choo sandals someday, she doesn't need to have to endure the pain of having "special" shoes made and to be made fun of! And....of course, what if having this slight problem causes developmental issues. Nonsense. Surgery is an option for a reason. Done!
We took a walk outside and decided we needed to celebrate the day- we had a Margarita. But just 1...okay, 2. Come 'on! We had 3 hours to kill and sitting in a waiting room wasn't exactly going to pass the time quickly enough. Of course we finished our lunch in record time and quickly returned to the hospital where we read every magazine available in the waiting room. Finally....Dr. Walker comes to the waiting area to greet us. He was very pleased with his work and with the overall procedure. It went great. Of course, we won't see his work until June 5th when she has her post-op visit to have her cast removed.
Seeing Madeline coming out of anesthesia was difficult. Her cry was weak, she was so confused. She had so many tubes hooked up to her. And her cast. I have never seen such a monstrosity on such a little human! I was instructed to pick her up and make her comfortable. John was instructed to hold the oxygen tube close to her face. My baby was comforted, but she was hungry. We fed her. Her vital signs were perfect. About 1.5 hours after surgery we were on our way home where Madeline decided to wake up and she was smiling...playing.....not realizing what she just went through. That evening she only woke once....she was just hungry.

Her strength is amazing. Her courage, at such a tiny age, is envious.

My new outfit. Very much a fashion don't. But, we're making it work...funky style.