The 'Clever' Hand

April 18, 2015

Antosia’s hand surgery took place at the Centermed hospital in Kraków. To minimize stress, the procedure was performed as a one-day surgery. This means we arrived at the hospital in the morning with a complete set of medical test results and left late in the afternoon of the same day. Everything went smoothly and according to plan, and our Antosia was very, very brave. She cried only once – when the IV cannula was being removed. That is why lovely dragons were waiting for her when she woke up.

Now we are waiting patiently for the results. We are glad that another stage is behind us. Especially since the decision regarding the treatment of Antosia’s hand was very difficult for us. Antosia has a longitudinal deficiency of the left arm – radial longitudinal deficiency. The arm is about 1 cm shorter than the right one. The hand is not fully formed and is in a non-physiological position. She has three fused fingers. Two of them, fused by bone, are a duplicated thumb with a single tendon; the next finger is fused only by skin.

In total, we met with 6 different specialists in Poland, Europe, and the USA. Each of them had a slightly different opinion on the potential treatment. Some information was consistent, while some was completely different. Below is a brief description of the most important hand consultations:

May 2012

2-month-old Antosia – visit with Prof. Romanowski. Prof. Romanowski proposes separating the skin-fused finger and rotating it to give it the function of a thumb. An attempt to create a pincer grasp. A minimum of two surgeries. Risk of non-functionality of the rotated finger.

November 2012

8-month-old Antosia – meeting with Dr. Paley in Germany. Dr. Paley proposed separating the duplicated thumb with tendon division. A two-stage surgery. Cost of each stage approx. $30,000. Risky. High risk of tendon damage.

April 2013

13-month-old Antosia – visit with Dr. Habenicht in Hamburg. Dr. Habenicht proposes excising the duplicated part of the thumb and leaving a two-fingered hand. A two-stage surgery. In the next stage, rotating the thumb. An attempt to create a pincer grasp in a two-fingered hand.

June 2014

2-year-old Antosia – meeting with Dr. Light in Chicago. The doctor understood his German colleague’s approach but did not entirely share it. He leaned towards only separating the skin fusion, followed by constant observation and possible corrections in the future.

November 2014

2.5-year-old Antosia – meeting with Dr. Rosello in Warsaw (the doctor who saved Kubica’s hand ;-)). Separation of the skin fusion of the finger from the duplicated thumb. Working on the pincer grasp. Observation of muscles (their strength) and individually developed skills.

December 2014

2.5-year-old Antosia – meeting with Dr. Chrapusta in Kraków. The doctor advised us against major intervention. She also proposed separating the skin fusion of the finger from the duplicated thumb. We decided on Kraków also because of the short distance from Silesia.