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HAND SURGERY CENTER
Injured hand at 2 years
old,
corrected with plastic surgery
Some, without a warning, turn tragic.
Though tragedy was averted, no one in the Alexandra’s family will
easily forget the day 2-year-old Alexandra cut her hand.
According to her mother Pamela, her
daughter had never been much of a climber. But that morning, before
anyone else was awake, Alexandra crawled up onto a chair to reach
for a big glass jar full of snacks at the back of the stove.
When she pulled the jar toward the
edge, it fell and shattered on the floor. Alexandra then toppled,
cushioning the fall with her right hand, and fell onto the glass
shards. The whole family woke up when she screamed.
Her parents took Alexandra to the
emergency room of their suburban hospital, but at the recommendation
of their doctors, she was quickly transferred to Texas Children’s.
“It was one of the most severe injuries
to a child’s hand that I had ever seen,” said
Dr. Larry Hollier.
“The lacerations were severe — all her tendons, her median
and ulnar nerves, and both arteries were cut.”
As soon as the hand’s swelling
subsided, Hollier performed microvascular surgery. “Alexandra’s
injury was so severe that, although I was very optimistic about the
outcome of the surgery, I expected only partial recovery of the use
of her hand,” said Hollier.
While healing began immediately after
surgery, Alexandra apparently was traumatized and lost her ability
to speak. But two additional surgeries combined with months of hand
massage and physical therapy sessions had a positive effect. Eight
months after the injury and into her third year, Alexandra began
speaking in full sentences. Now she has regained complete use of her
right hand and uses it for eating, coloring and cutting with
scissors.
“I think Dr. Hollier is a miracle
worker,” Pamela said. “Alexandra couldn’t even talk a few months
ago. Now she says, ‘Dr. Hollier fixed my hand.’”
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