A Finger Healed?

Monday was the big day.  Time to get three pins removed from my son’s finger.  We took a picture before we went, and you can see one of the pins just begging to pop out of his hand.  The other two were less obvious.


At the Doctor’s office, more x-rays confirmed that the bone has healed properly, so we decided to remove the pins.  The specialist numbed my son’s finger and went to work.  He felt around carefully and located the end of a pin, then pushed (hard) on that spot.  This forced the pin through out through the skin.  When he had a little hole in the finger, he used pliers to get hold of the pin and yanked it out of the bone.  Wow.  He did this three times.  The second pin was stubborn and required a bit more digging with the pliers, but my 12 year old was a real champ.  He held still, never flinched, and tried to tape most of it with his cell phone!  (His friends, upon hearing how the pins would come out, had requested videos.)  Personally, I’m proud of myself for watching the entire thing without getting a little queasy.

So, this is what his finger now looks like.




Do you think it looks better?  You might, until you see this picture of his whole hand.


For a finger that’s “healed” it sure looks bad!  It’s still so swollen and flat that it’s hard for me to look at.  I’m grateful that the bone is properly healed, and excited to see the swelling go down.  It’s nice to have the pins out as well.  He’s proudly carrying all three of them in his wallet.

He has two weeks to be his own therapist and see how much movement he can get out of his finger.  After that, we’ll see if he needs physical therapy.

This little adventure has cost plenty of time and money, as well as pain.  Yet in the long run, it’s a small price to pay for a fully functional hand.  Someday these hands of his will be providing for a family.  Thinking that thought makes me happy.