Hand Surgery After Serious Injury: Brayden’s Story
Our family came to Dr. Kathryn Peck in hopes that we had finally found someone with the kind of pediatric expertise we needed, and the kind of compassion shown by a mother that we desired. Her bedside manner was amazing & genuine with every single encounter! Not once did I ever feel like a bother to her with my many questions. She even helped me make sure every question on my list had an answer written down before I left each visit. She looked at my son as a kid, as our future, not just as an experiment or a paycheck. She took an interest in him as a person. She made sure he was comfortable during our visits and felt included. She got his opinion on things and asked what questions he had.
Brayden had lost his left thumb due to a lawnmower accident just days after his 5th birthday. Several doctors on different panels across the U.S. called Brayden’s case a head-scratcher because of the CMC joint now missing after the accident. With minimal options, we were originally preparing to wrap a very active toddler like a mummy for 4 weeks to be able to allow the skin to grow so that they could do the pollicization – moving the index finger down to the thumb area. Dr. Peck reached out to one of her fellow surgeons that had done 1000’s of these surgeries to see if there was any way to keep us from going through more stress. We gave the situation to God, and waited. The day before the skin flap surgery, I got an exciting call from Dr. Peck from her personal cell phone on a Sunday afternoon saying she had spoken with her colleague and they both had faith that she could make this work without the flap. We went forward with the pollicization. The day of surgery, I felt like things were in the hands of a lifelong friend, not just some surgeon. The kind of trust that had built up, and the compassion that came from Dr. Peck, took every worry I had ever had and threw it out the window.
After 28 days in a cast, and a few months of therapy, Brayden was able to master just about anything you put in front of him! April 1, 2017, a year after the surgery, I am ecstatic to report that there is nothing that this happy boy can’t do! He can even push buttons through holes, which we didn’t think he would be able to do. He has more movement & mobility than they thought possible with the missing CMC joint; and we have God & Dr. Kathryn Peck to thank for such an amazing outcome and bright future!
Crystal C.
