Before and after

We are back, safe and sound, from Shriners Salt Lake. I am back at work, and Brody is doing extraordinarily well. I have much to blog about, but can't get to it just now. So in the meantime, two photos of the right hand makeover.

At right, the night before surgery. He had a little rash on his arm from the cast that was there, but that's his hand before surgery.

And this is a few hours after surgery....

I simultaneously got goosebumps and shed a few tears when I saw his hand for the first time. I knew intellectually what it would look like (I've seen after photos of other hands), but it's something else to see such a dramatic change on your own child's hand, in just a few hours (4 1/2 to be exact).

The thumb (which is still strange to write and say) is still pink, so I think we're out of the woods. The first 48 hours post-op were the most critical, and since we're now about 96 hours, we are feeling pretty confident that the circulation is here to stay.

We arrived back from SLC on Saturday afternoon. Brody is back at daycare today (he was quite excited to go) and hasn't needed any pain meds since Saturday at 5:30am.