We were driving to IKEA the other day and out of nowhere, Ania asked: “What are those bumpy things on my fingers??”, before I was able to answer, her sister, Mila quickly told her that those bumpy things are scars from the surgery she had to separate her fingers, because she, Ania was born with her fingers stuck together. Ania just said “OK” and continued to examine her fingers closely.
I have to say, I almost swallowed my tongue when I heard Ania’s question, I know it’s not a huge deal but I was relieved Mila answered so quickly and eloquently! Yay Mila!!
Today, I brought Ania with me to pick up Mila from school (she’s about to graduate from senior kindergarten), her classmates love Ania, some of them play with my girls after school at the school playground, but today was the very first time everyone noticed how different Ania’s fingers looked! They all immediately surrounded her and started grabbing Ania’s fingers without asking, it was total mayhem for a minute, I literally had to physically move them away because no one was paying attention to Ania’s swipes at their heads in defence or my pleas for space.
I know, curious 5 year-olds, Ania was fine a minute later and resumed the mad race with her older friends and big sister around the playground as if nothing had happened. I’m very glad she’s such a tough little gal, she always reminds me of my mother’s words: “In life, you are never given more than you can handle”, I believe this now more than ever.
Ania's Syndactyly 
Thank you for your story, it has helped.
My little guy is 7 months and we will be meeting with a surgeon at sick kids in october – we have been told the surgeon may not perform as this is something that could be done outside of sick kids. i am devasted, scared and angry at what my baby will have to go through. The process is taking long as I did not like the previous surgeon we met with, and my pediatrician will only set up one appt at a time. i know us moms are supposed to be tough for our kids, but I break down everytime I think about it…what if something happens to him…?
Thank you so much for updating your blog. Ania’s hand looks amazing! I wrote to you ages ago regarding the silicone bandaging which we enquired about in NZ. We ended up being referred to a physio here who trialled a couple of different forms of compression type bandages which didn’t make much of a difference (this was after 3 rounds of cortisone injections each under a general anaesthetic which made little difference to our sons keloid scarring). We are now using a slip on sock bandage which we had made in Australia (through the hospital system) and it has been amazing. It has helped flatten the scarring out considerably. We’re not all the way there yet but certainly a big improvement. It is nice to know as they grow the scars flatten out also. Our son is also remarkably resilient with other kids and their questions – makes you sad as a mum that they have to be tho! Thank you for continuing to share Ania’s story.
Grace (((hugs))) I know how you feel, but you are doing the best thing you can, consider the alternative… Hope the October appointment goes well. The care Ania has received at Sick Kids’ was amazing, at every point of our journey, your son will be in good hands.
Monique, I’m honestly no longer worried about Ania’s scars, they are truly stretching out and flattening with her growing hand, they still look discoloured but her fingers are functioning perfectly, you should see the necklaces she makes using tiny beads and thin wire, that takes a lot of coordination for anyone, Ania can do this stuff with ease 🙂 I decided to stop all the scar treatments long ago, they were driving Ania crazy.
So please give the scars a few years, they will improve with time, guaranteed. Thanks for writing!