He hated having to wear the gauzy bandage. He really hates having anything "trapping" his little arm.
Today, we took off the bandages:
We still have the smaller bandage on, which is water-resistant and antibacterial. Gyunay says it looks "creepy".
The doctor assured me that if we let it grow through the skin it would look "really creepy".
As you can see, his little arm used to be mostly rounded at the bottom:
Over time, it took on more of a point, but we had no idea why. Although we had taken him to an orthopedic hospital for a consult shortly after we brought him home, we were not told to look out for this. Actually, they said a prosthetic would not be helpful (due to no elbow), and that we shouldn't need to see them unless he wanted a fake arm for show.
Over the years, none of his regular pediatricians knew to look for it, either. (He has a main pediatrician, whom we love, but he has also seen other pediatricians in her practice over the years.) Everyone thought it was fine.
This picture from last summer shows the point pretty well, although it had grown even more since then, and it had two tips. One tip had a tiny bit of bone visible on the end. (It looked a bit like a tip of a fingernail, but was actually bone.):
In February, I mentioned to our pediatrician how very sensitive the tip of his little arm has become. She referred us to a wonderful specialist in Louisville. Our appointment was for the last week of April, which ended up being the first week such appointments were again allowed due to Covid19. She took one look at it, and the x-rays, and said he needed surgery within the next couple of months. So he had surgery this week, and it went well. He will probably need the same surgery more times as he keeps growing, but hopefully not for several years. The main thing is, it shouldn't hurt anymore, after it heals, and that will be so great.
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