Flying her way back to the top, from a Mothers perspective

Just days before her sixteenth birthday my daughter, Kayla, fell backwards while playing soccer and used her hands to try to break her fall. We were told that she had sprained all four fingers on her left hand to keep it wrapped and iced and she would be fine. Three weeks later her ring finger was still swollen and very painful. We went back in to the doctor and were then sent to an orthopedic. He looked at the X-ray’s and determined she merely had a hairline fracture, sent us to therapy and ordered us back in two weeks. The finger continued to hurt immensely, the swelling would not go down and now the finger appeard to be crooked. It’s now been 5 weeks and we go back to the Orthopedic. We were about to be sent away again with different therapy instructions, but I insisted they please explain to Kayla that they are sure that what they are doing was right as she feels that there is something very wrong and what they are doing seems to be making it worse. It was at that point they ordered a new set of X-ray’s. Sure enough, they now saw the finger had in fact had a break! We were asked to continue the therapy and come back in three weeks to see a visiting hand surgeon. The hand surgeon told us to just keep up with the therapy and live with it, she didn’t feel surgery was necessary, and that perhaps when Kayla was 40 and the arthritis had set in then she could get the joint replaced. Kayla was so upset at the process that had gotten her to this point and crushed that her finger would just remain crooked and painful. We felt uneasy about the hand surgeons take on the situation, as did her therapist. We knew we needed a second opinion, and we had exhausted all considerable options available to us in the Virgin Islands.

A couple of months later I was on a flight and came across an article in the AA (American Airlines) magazine that listed the nations top doctors in their fields…that’s how I found Dr. Badia. I called Dr. Badia’s office, thinking it would take a year to get into see him. They were so welcoming and professional from day one! I told them Kayla’s story and they were willing to see us within days, but we are located in The Virgin Islands, so it took a little planning. Dr. Badia gave Kayla a couple of options. He could make the finger look straight, but she may not have mobility or he could reconstruct the now terribly damaged joint which would be extremely invasive, but she would be able to bend the finger. As Kayla was just 16 and very athletic we opted for the surgery that would give her the most mobility. Dr. Badia and his team were, to say the least, excellent! Not just on the administrative side, but also in the surgery center, pre and post op – this was a very scary thing for a young girl and they handled her (and her nervous Mom) beautifully. They were diligent in their follow up with Kayla and made certain to communicate directly with Kayla’s therapist back at home between our visits. In just 6 months Kayla was back in full swing, and has the pictures to prove it! We just had our last visit with them…we were all a little sad.

-Lara Halliday