Update on Camden's hand

I have to apologize for not keeping this as updated as I should, so I wanted to take a moment to let everyone know how Camden is doing. I felt pretty dissatisfied with the fact that his Pediatrician didn't think he needed to see a specialist so I did a little research on my own. It turns out that there is a burn center in Phoenix, which is two hours away from us. This is a place that exclusively treats burns and has a team of burn specialists, plastic surgeons, and occupational therapists.

I emailed the pictures of Camden's hand to the burn center to see if they had something more to say about it. It was just a general email on their website and I wasn't very optimistic that anyone would even view it. However, within a couple of hours, the Director or head doctor of the burn center emailed me back asking me to get Camden there ASAP. He said that his burns were very, very deep 3rd degree burns that would not heal on their own and they needed to see him right away.

So on Tuesday we made the trek to Phoenix to get him checked out. We waited about two hours before we were seen, and then the doctors spent another two hours with him. They took X-rays to see if he finger was broken.... a thought that never had even occurred to me and spurring all of the bad mother feelings again. Luckily it wasn't broken. They cleaned it,and bandaged it and taught me some high tech bandage techniques. We also were finally given the special Silvadene cream that is just for burns.

Then an Occupational Therapist spent some time with us splinting Cam's finger to keep it straight, and he taught us how to do some exercises/physical therapy to help ensure that Camden keeps his mobility.

We are headed back to Phoenix today for more follow up, and that will likely be something that we do for several weeks. So for right now, the doctors want to see how he heals on his own. The main concern is the depth of the wound and the fact that it goes over joints. What this means is that the scar tissue that forms can cause his finger to curl and he would lose mobility in it. This is called contracture. A lot of doctors that we have spoken with have said that this is a likely possibility of happening, and if it does we will then need a hand or plastic surgeon to correct that problem. There may still be a possibility of needing a skin graft as well, but for right now they are just watching it.

In the meantime I change Camden's bandages twice daily, help him with his exercises, take him to the doctor every couple of days, and try to convince him that it is really cool and that it doesn't hurt. :)