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Ceirnan Update and Other


Here is a picture of the kids at the zoo on Saturday. We had beautiful weather in the 70s. CJ and Ceirnan had a great time- although I wish I had taken this picture when we got there instead of as we started to leave. CJ liked the monkey's the best this trip and we all enjoyed a great picnic lunch.
Here is the update on Ceirnan's hand. I'm not sure how much everyone actually knows so I'm kind of summarizing it a bit.
Ceirnan was born with a few issues on her right arm and hand. The doctors assume that she got her arm stuck above her head and couldn't get it out of that position. It created some pressure wounds that have mostly healed up and it also caused a radial dislocation. At this point, there is no way to fix the radial dislocation, but it doesn't cause her any pain and she's lucky enough to have full range of motion. It also limited or destroyed (not sure yet) the growth of the nerve and muscle on the top of her arm. Therefore, she can't mover her fingers into a gripped position. She uses her hand without her fingers and her fingers typically rest a little like pinchers. The doctor is hopeful that with a splint and some occupational therapy that we can get the fingers moving. After her first birthday, he will then perform surgery on the whole arm to improve the appearance. At that time or sometime after, he may be able to take tendons from under her arm and use them on the top of her arm to facilitate more movement of her fingers. It's really quite fascinating or it would be if I was watching it on a medical show instead of walking my child through it. Her injuries are rare. Dr. Chang is the top hand specialist at CHOP and he says he's only seen this three times in fifteen years. He's hopeful though and so are we. Ceirnan is great about it and is constantly looking at the hand as if to say "I know you can work for me. I just have to figure out how." That bodes well to as we begin occupational therapy. She likes to compare her two hands and tries to figure out the difference. As for now, Casey and I are just glad we have a plan in place and we know what we should be doing to help our little girl.

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