From Start to Finish

Meet Tamba!   He was one of the first plastics patients to come to us in May.  His hand had been burned as a small child and when it healed his hand had contracted into a ball.  Tamba wasn't as outgoing as some of the other kids, but he would sit on his bed and observe all that was going on.  The longer he was here the more he came out of his shell.  There were many games of balloon football (aka soccer), Jenga bowling, as well as coloring and drawing.

Pre-op photo

Pre-op Photo

The goal of the plastic surgeon was to release the contractures in Tamba’s fingers in hopes that he will regain function of his hand.  The first few days after surgery consist of keeping the him as pain free as possible and protecting the skin graft.    After 5 days the dressing changes begin.  This can be a very scary process, especially for the children.  It usually involves a lot of tears and screaming.  This only gets worse when we begin to exercise his fingers, which he hasn't moved in years.  It was common for Tamba and his friends to hide under the bed when we mentioned that it was time for exercises.  It is hard to see them cry but in the long run we know that if they don’t do these exercises, their hands will go back to the way they were.  After weeks to months of this we finally get  to see results. 

Tamba with Junior.  This is a good example of how we wrap
their hands so that they will not contract again.

Learning to grip!

Finally being able to grip.  Look at that concentration!

  

Tamba’s hand doesn’t look like a normal hand but it is functional again.  Which means he is able to write, color, play with blocks and hold a spoon or fork.  Tamba is still at the hope center waiting for his donor site (the area we took the skin graft from) to heal.  During one of his many trips to the outpatient department he happened to run into the the plastic surgeon,  who had just returned for a second round of surgeries.  Tamba promptly ran up to surgeon and showed him all he could do with his hand.  He was so proud and excited to show the doctor how his hand was working.  


There are so many other success stories like his and it has been amazing to witness them.