* the beard family *: Goodbye, High Six! Hello, High Five!

Or so that's what his well wishes from his teachers and friends said. As most of you probably know, Keagan was born with an extra thumb (technically, a Wassel II...or maybe III, can't remember). The doctors told us that they would wait to remove it until after his first birthday because they wanted to see how it grew, if one dominated more than the other, etc. At his check up with the surgeon at Children's just after his first birthday, Dr. Popp decided they'd take off the outside thumb and we got the procedure scheduled. They told us his surgery would be at 8 a.m. so it was an early morning for the Beards but thankfully so since Keagan couldn't eat or drink beforehand. At least we didn't have to worry about him starving all morning! We got him all checked in and got his hospital "gown" on (i.e. some cute little scrub-like pants and shirt that tied in the back). The little guy was none too excited to see all of the nurses and other strangers but he did ok. His surgery took almost an hour exactly. Dr. Popp came out to see us afterward and said he did great. Turns out that his joint in his thumb was actually not in as good of shape as Dr. Popp had hoped and he thinks he more than likely won't be able to bend his thumb at his knuckle. Jeff and I don't think he actually could do this before his surgery either so we're thinking Keagan shouldn't notice any difference. Like I told Jeff, perhaps he won't be able to palm a basketball and dunk with his right hand but all in all, we're thankful things went so well. After we talked with Dr. Popp, Keagan was awake within 15 minutes or so and we got to go back, get our discharge instructions and we were on our way home. Keagan seemed a bit frustrated with the cast that first day - trying to do things and looking at my and whining a bit when he couldn't - but was back to his old self in no time. We're so proud of our brave little guy (and can't wait to get this cast off)!