An interesting morning

I just wanted to quick post and let everyone know the cast is GONE!!! I will post pictures of the new hand later, after some substantial cleanup and nail trimming is done.

The morning was nothing like we expected. First of all, she had her cast taken off, or rather, sawed off, while being held in Daddy's arms and producing a large amount of pink cast dust, and screaming her head off. They didn't take the bandage off the hand until we were in to see the doctor. When they started peeling off the bandages, I was amazed by the amount of crud inside. As they were unraveling, I was just sure they would come off to reveal a black hand. And then the moment of truth came. And, to tell you the truth, I'm sure our faces dropped a little. I don't know what I was expecting. Well I do know, and I had a picture in my head of a normal hand with 2 fingers shorter than the rest. Instead what we saw was a puffy, crusty, long-jagged fingernailed thing resembling a hand. The good news, though? There are now 5 distinct fingers!!! The surgeon is very happy with the results and especially with the skin grafts. I have quite a bit of cleaning to do, and her first real bath in 2.5 months. That I am planning to do very soon, probably right after posting this. So, all in all we are happy, but the initial impact was a little shocking, I'll admit. Moral of the story: don't set your expectations too high. The puffiness is supposed to go down once her hand has been in use a little bit, and the stitches remaining and the crusty stuff will dissolve in the bath. I PROMISE I'll post pictures later, after we're cleaned up and have had a chance to let Ellie discover her hand again. She is not moving it very much, and it is a little tender to the touch. She is not liking that very much. Okay, until later, wish me luck. This part is a little tougher than I expected... But thank God for 5 fingers!