Guess What We Did Yesterday

Or Plastic Surgery at 12 Or Why I am glad we are homeschooling.

Yesterday's procedure  was some time in the making.  In the first year of life there appeared on Zippy's pinky finger a something, we argued about whether it was a mole or blood blister.  It was a mole, and not a particularly big one.  A few months ago I noticed it wasn't so little anymore, and it was kinda funky looking. I asked at her annual physical if it might be an issue.  I was thinking cancer. 

They referred us to a dermatologist who referred us to a plastic surgeon.  Why a plastic surgeon?   The littlest finger does not have a whole lot of skin, and this is huge.  The chance that Zippy would need a skin graft was likely.  No one thinks that it is cancer, but it will be biopsied just to be sure.  We had a consultation with the plastic surgeon and a surgery date was scheduled.  We went through the University of Michigan Hospitals for this one.  They are very good and I am pleased with everything they have done. 

Plastic Surgery at 12

The procedure was outpatient and only took a few hours.  Ivy was sedated so I got to sit out in the waiting room.  I was reminded why I do not watch daytime television and was extraordinarily grateful for my smart phone and Pinterest. Zippy did have the skin graft and in the end her hand looks like this:

According to Zippy it looks worse than it is, she is almost no pain and has only taken a couple of Motrin.  This lovely dressing stays on for a week, then she gets it removed and a different dressing goes on.  All told it will take a little more than a month to completely heal.  She can't get it wet, she can't write, and she can't ride her bike for at least a couple of weeks.  

Why I am glad that we homeschool

During this whole process the question came up a lot: so where do you go to school?  I cringed, waiting for the disapproval and condemnation when I or Zippy answered with homeschool.  Mostly it was met with relief or happiness because they did not have schedule around school.  For the several appointments we worked on schoolwork before or after, in the evening if we had to.  She gets a couple of days off, but even today she said she wanted to do a little school because her pain is not so great.  The mole was on her right pinky, she is right handed.  This would be a problem for traditional school, but no biggie for us.  She do most of her work orally until her hand is healed.  She can use her left hand for some computer related things.  In some cases we will be working together, her telling me what she needs to write down.  The flexibility of homeschooling is allowing us to take this in stride, before summer.  Yay.