Thumb Injury.

[CaptainMummy]

A bit of a random post I guess... But on Sunday morning my dd2 (almost 3) was bitten by a dog. The only part of her that got touched was her left thumb, and all I know is that some of it is gone. (I caught a glimpse of it when I grabbed her to see what was wrong, but didnt exactly study it... And avoided looking at it the whole time she was in hospital)

Anyway, when the plastic surgeon was speaking to me after she was ubder GA the first time, having it cleaned, he said that the whole nailbed was gone. That the top of her thumb came off 'at a sort of angle' and that he didn't really want to stitch it up because if he did, it would lose even more length...

I guess I am asking what it is going to look like in the future. The tip of her bone is missing, but all of her tendons (or whatever is in a thumb) are still intact, and she should have full use of it, it will just be shorter.

She has to go tomorrow to get a new dressing put on, and I am really really scared to see what it looks like! Im not usually bothered by blood etc... but when I think that my own 2 year old has had part of her body severed, and the pain she must have felt, it really is like a punch in the face. I cant believe she had to go through it!

So yeah, any experience of this sort of thing would be fab!

 

[CRWx]

No experience just want to send some hugs to you and your DD2! Poor little love xxx

 

[AngelUK]

No experience either but tons of hugs. Poor sweet girl! I hope it won't be too painful for her when the dressing comes off. And as for you, I totally understand how this is so different when it is your own child. Tons of

 

[Bevziibubble]

I don't have any advice sorry hun but sending hugs and hope she has a speedy recovery. I can't imagine how horrible it must have been for you to witness

 

[lau86]

i don't have experience but I just wanted to say I hope it heals well and she's ok

 

[CaptainMummy]

Thank you ladies.
We had her appointment today, she got her big bandage off and omg what a sight! Her thumb was all covered with dried blood and it looks worse than I expected. I was hoping that it was going to be barely noticeable but it is a good chunk that is missing (about 1cm, but she has tiny little hands so it looks quite alot!)
She saw it and I think got a huge fright. When the nurse tried to clean it a little (just wipe around the thumb to get some blood off) she screamed blue murder. She got a new dressing on and now has her fingers free, but is still not using them as she is now used to them being wrapped up, and her thumb is also more prone to being bumped etc since its sticking out (like a sore thumb!)
Have to go back again in a week, and in the meantime have to keep the dressing bone dry. She starts back nursery on Monday and I really don't know if she will be okay to go.

https://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/s521/paigesmummyxx/aug%2016/DSC_1312_zpsz5l0b96w.jpg

 

[AngelUK]

Oh poor little sweetie! Keeping it dry is going to be difficult. Maybe use small freezer bags and an elastic (not too tight) when washing hands or bath time. Did it hurt her having the dressing changed?

 

[LoveCakes]

Poor wee pet I'm sure she's sore.

It'll look worse just after the surgery with all the swelling, I'm sure in a week or two it'll be much better.

 

[jd83]

I'm surprised they are doing dry treatment first. My DH lost part of a finger 2 summers ago, and the first week was wet therapy, where he had to keep a moist antibiotic ointment pad on it at all times. Then after that, they went to the dry therapy. The changing of the dressing was the absolute worst, though, and he said it was unbelievably painful. My advice would be to give her pain medication at least half an hour before a dressing change is due. DH quickly learned that helped. The other thing that helps with the pain level, although it may be difficult to get her to do it at her age, is keeping the hand elevated above heart level as much as possible. As far as how it looks when it heals, honestly, it really isn't that bad. Dh clearly has a shorter finger. But it healed very nicely, and isn't really glaringly obvious unless you are looking closely enough at his hand to notice that the finger is shorter.

 

[CaptainMummy]

I'm surprised they are doing dry treatment first. My DH lost part of a finger 2 summers ago, and the first week was wet therapy, where he had to keep a moist antibiotic ointment pad on it at all times. Then after that, they went to the dry therapy. The changing of the dressing was the absolute worst, though, and he said it was unbelievably painful. My advice would be to give her pain medication at least half an hour before a dressing change is due. DH quickly learned that helped. The other thing that helps with the pain level, although it may be difficult to get her to do it at her age, is keeping the hand elevated above heart level as much as possible. As far as how it looks when it heals, honestly, it really isn't that bad. Dh clearly has a shorter finger. But it healed very nicely, and isn't really glaringly obvious unless you are looking closely enough at his hand to notice that the finger is shorter.

Thanks Im not really worried about how it will look, as she will still be able to use it and thats the main thing. She wont remember it being any different so it's not so bad. I just feel terrible that it even happened to her!
Im not sure if her thumb is totally dry. They put some sort of gauze over it first, that looked a bit wet, but I don't need to change it and it will stay under her bandage for another week. I just got told that if her bandage gets wet she will need to get a new one, I don't think it would have a huge effect on healing etc... It would just be an inconvenience!

I will definitely give her some pain relief beforehand next week. I didn't think to do that. Not sure it will help, I think most of her screaming was being dramatic and just not wanting anyone to touch her!

 

[jd83]

I'm surprised they are doing dry treatment first. My DH lost part of a finger 2 summers ago, and the first week was wet therapy, where he had to keep a moist antibiotic ointment pad on it at all times. Then after that, they went to the dry therapy. The changing of the dressing was the absolute worst, though, and he said it was unbelievably painful. My advice would be to give her pain medication at least half an hour before a dressing change is due. DH quickly learned that helped. The other thing that helps with the pain level, although it may be difficult to get her to do it at her age, is keeping the hand elevated above heart level as much as possible. As far as how it looks when it heals, honestly, it really isn't that bad. Dh clearly has a shorter finger. But it healed very nicely, and isn't really glaringly obvious unless you are looking closely enough at his hand to notice that the finger is shorter.

Thanks Im not really worried about how it will look, as she will still be able to use it and thats the main thing. She wont remember it being any different so it's not so bad. I just feel terrible that it even happened to her!
Im not sure if her thumb is totally dry. They put some sort of gauze over it first, that looked a bit wet, but I don't need to change it and it will stay under her bandage for another week. I just got told that if her bandage gets wet she will need to get a new one, I don't think it would have a huge effect on healing etc... It would just be an inconvenience!

I will definitely give her some pain relief beforehand next week. I didn't think to do that. Not sure it will help, I think most of her screaming was being dramatic and just not wanting anyone to touch her!

Yes, that gauze sounds like the wet gauze my DH had to have on his, too. I feel so bad for her going through it You're right, though, hopefully she's young enough she won't remember going through it.

 

[CaptainMummy]

JD83, how long did he need a dressing on for? (I forgot to ask yesterday!)
I'm worried about sending her to nursery next week!

 

[jd83]

JD83, how long did he need a dressing on for? (I forgot to ask yesterday!)
I'm worried about sending her to nursery next week!

I'm trying to remember...I'm thinking 3-4 weeks? His injury was pretty bad, though, and infection was a huge worry because of the injury happening in the middle of a cow pen full of cow manure. His finger got caught between a fence post and a cow, and the whole lower part of his finger came off and had to be surgically repaired what was left of the finger.

They may want her to keep hers covered and bandaged for quite a while, too, more due to her age. At her age, her banging it on something while its so early in the healing process will be a worry because she's too little to think about being careful with it all the time until it fully heals. I would anticipate minimum 3-4 weeks, maybe more due to her being so young.

ETA: You may want to hold off on nursery just for a bit to give it more time to heal. I'd at least ask the surgeon what his/her thoughts are about when would be okay for her to go back. That seems like a risky environment so early in the healing process for her to keep it from banging on toys, or getting wet, or tearing a stitch, etc.

 

[CaptainMummy]

Infection is a big worry with Ella too. They actually left the wound open, because of risk of infection and to avoid having to shorten the thumb even more (there wasnt enough tissue to pull together, so it wouldn't have just been a simple stitch up to close it) it is literally a big open bit at the end!

I'm going to keep her off nursery on Monday and ask the doctor at her appointment on Tuesday what they think (although I have a feeling they will say if she is coping well, and she is, that there is no reason to not send her)

 

[broodymrs]

Poor girly

My dad cut the end of his thumb off with a circular saw. It was basically the nail bed area so sounds quite similar. Once it was fully healed you could barely tell. So sorry she had this traumatic experience. I hope the dog has been dealt with.

 

[CaptainMummy]

Well Ella had an appointment on Tuesday and they had a look and were happy with how it is healing and advised that they didn't want the dressing on much longer. They put a really light/loose bandage on and told me not to worry if anything happens to it, and just take it off and get her in the bath. So on Thursday, it was falling off so we took it off and gave it a good soak in the bath to get rid of all of the dried blood.

I was pleasantly surprised! I was expecting alot more of her thumb to be missing. The way the doctors had described it was a bit misleading, but it looks like it won't be too bad at all, and will look relatively normal once healed. She put a plaster on for nursery but has had it uncovered since yesterday.
She has been such a trooper and isn't phased in the slightest!

I have a photo, which I will spoiler because its pretty disgusting!

Spoiler

https://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/s521/paigesmummyxx/aug%2016/sketch-1471548610342_zps9wpvh13o.png

 

[AngelUK]

Gosh it doesn't look pleasant but I too thought more of it was missing! Glad it is better than expected. Does it not hurt her at all?

 

[CaptainMummy]

Gosh it doesn't look pleasant but I too thought more of it was missing! Glad it is better than expected. Does it not hurt her at all?

She hasn't mentioned it hurting, although she hasn't been using it really (except to hold things... Like she hasn't picked things up using her fingers and thumb) nor have I seen her bend it. Think it will take a while for her to use it properly. Im sure it would hurt a little if she knocked it, but so far so good

Also, its almost like a big scab on the end of her thumb. Its really drying up (that photo was after her shower) It seems to be healing really quickly!

 

[.Mrs.B.]

It's healing really well. It looks much better than you had me imagining and I cant really notice any length missing either. I'm glad she's on the mend, brave girl.

 

[Zephram]

Oh that doesn't look too bad at all! Once it's all healed I don't think this will be nearly as obvious as you're worried about. She's so brave!