Preston’s Birth:
Our beautiful baby boy, Preston, was born on April 21, 2002, 3 weeks early. I had an ultrasound at 4 months and the technician didn’t notice anything wrong. When Preston was born, they whisked him away so fast I just got a glimpse of him and thought I saw something wrong with one of his hands. I told my husband to go look at him because I thought there was something wrong with one of his hands. Then I found out something was wrong with both of them. Preston got whisked away to have X-Rays taken almost immediately-I didn’t even get a chance to try to nurse him. The doctor told us later that he thought it was ABS-we had never even heard of it.
Preston’s Hands:
On his right hand he only has his thumb. He has the first bone in the fingers but they didn’t separate. He also had two little bubbles of skin where two fingers should have been. His surgeon has told us that when he’s about 4 or 5, we might be able to grow the bones longer. He loves to suck on this thumb! On his left hand, he has all fingers, but his thumb is half the length of a normal thumb. His pinky, ring, and middle finger were still webbed. He has many deep grooves where bands had been on his fingers.
Preston’s Surgeries:
On July 8, 2002, at 2 1/2 months old he had his first surgery. The surgeon removed the two bubbles on his right hand and separated his ring and middle finger on his left hand. The skin from the bubbles was grafted onto the other hand where his fingers were separated. He also did some z-plastys on the deep grooves. Preston wore casts on both hands for a couple of weeks after his surgery. He will have another surgery sometime in the next 6 months. Preston’s surgeon will separate his pinky and ring finger on his left hand and do more z-plastys, and possibly do some work on Preston’s right hand.
We live in Utah and would love talking to other parents of children with ABS.
