Trigger Thumb

On January 21st this year, we were getting ready for our usual day out. My son was playing while I was getting the diaper bag stuff ready. He started playing with a ball, very lightweight, the kind of they have in McDonald play area. He was keep putting the ball on the floor with one hand and try to pick it up with the other hand while standing. I told him to be careful otherwise he will fall down (mother’s instincts) but they never listen.

After few minutes I saw him trying to pick the ball and instead he fell on his hand while holding the ball. It didn’t seem very big deal at all but he started crying that his hand hurts. I rubbed his hand, pressed it and kissed his boo boo but it didn’t make him feel better. He is skinny and even though he fell on his hand, I mean his body weight on his hand, didn’t make me worry at all. I thought he just want some mommy time so I sat down with him and tried to do silly things to make him feel better.

I was checking every inch of his arm and asking him if it hurt there and massage him trying to make him feel better. Then I reached his hand and start bending his finger to check for anything and he point to his thumb saying it hurt there. I tried to bend his thumb but he started crying with pain. Then I realize that he can’t straighten his thumb. My heart skipped a beat thinking he might have fracture or something. It was few minutes past since he fell over his hand but I didn’t see any swelling so I was thinking he might have sprained it or it is just a case of another dislocation.

Called my hubby to check my son’s hand and get ready to go to hospital. My hubby said it might be the same dislocation kindda thing and will get better in few hours on it own like last time but I was scared & didn’t want to hear anything, so we fought and decided to go to hospital. We paged his ped but by the time she responded we were in the hospital & she said to get it checked since we were already there.

After sitting in the emergency room for sometime, actually very long time, they checked him, did some X-rays & made him put a splint on his thumb. According to them it was a dislocation and splint could make his thumb stay straight and it will be back to normal soon. After whole day in the hospital hubby said “See, I told you so. You overreact every time”. And I am thinking “Well, I am a mother. Its my job to over react over something like this and I am at peace knowing that there is no fracture and If I had to choose all over I will do the same thing again instead of waiting and going to hospital when he is crying in pain.”.

In 2-3 days my daughter had a doctor appointment and we told her to check my son’s thumb too since it was still bending towards his palm. As soon as she saw the thumb & tried to move she said “He has a trigger thumb”. She checked his both hands but they were fine. She explained that it is something he was born with and we happened to notice it the day he fell on his hand. She said its very minor thing, sometimes gets better on its own & sometimes need surgery. As soon as I heard the word surgery I felt my heart in my throat and burning hot inside me. My baby might need surgery? Even though it will be a small one, still. I felt like someone robbed me there. Was in shock and didn’t know what to say. Then she gave us referral for Orthopedic Specialist and as soon as we settled in the car I made an appointment to see him.

Tried to bend & move his thumb in effort to straighten it but no luck. Went to Orthopedic in couple of days. He checked, did X-ray & confirmed that it was trigger thumb and he will need surgery. He said it could be genetic but no one we know had trigger thumb in our families. I told the doc that I will call later to fix the surgery date. I needed some time to absorb the fact that he will need the “local” and doc will make a cut to straighten his thumb. I didn’t even think twice when I had epidural during my both pregnancies but now I feel so week thinking about putting my kids to sleep with medication for few hrs…

Few days later I was playing with my daughter and since trigger thumb was on my mind I started checking my daughter’s hand (yup, didn’t think of checking her sooner). To my worst fear I felt a tiny bump inside of her thumb too.. It was very tiny though but there was a bit bump inside of her right thumb. Made appointment for her to see the same doc. He said it is very tiny and might get better on its own but it hasn’t still. Now my both kids need surgery and hubby blames me for that since I didn’t massage them in their babyhood. And according to him this is the ONLY reason for their trigger thumb. Even though doc said otherwise but he said “Here doctors don’t know anything. I know it is because of no massage.” *sigh

Now my kids, yes both kids, have surgery on this Friday and I am so scared. Even though its short outpatient procedure and we will be out of the hospital the same day still I am sooooo scared. My son is having the surgery first then my daughter.. We asked them to schedule my daughter first as she ask for milk the minute she get up but don’t know yet. I hope everything will go smooth but just thinking about it making me scared & nauseous. Please keep us in your prayers.

update: I get lots of emails from scared mommies regarding trigger thumb. Here is link to the after surgery post.