Lilo’s toe update

Well the time has come and Lilo will be going in for surgery on her big toe. We went to Sick Kids a couple of time and met with an orpadetic surgeon and a plastic surgeon. They took x-rays of her foot and reviewed what they need to do.
I guess it’s not as simple as we were previously leaded to believe. There are a few places in the foot that the toe is getting information to grow. There are growth plates at the ends of the bones, there are also growth plates on the joints and there are the nerves telling the tissue to grow (at least this is how I understand it). They don’t want to touch the joints as that would limit her mobility in her toe. As for the skin, tissue – they don’t want to do any removal or debulking now. So what they’re going to do is go in and try and stop the growth on the bones. They should be able to stop or slow down the length growth of the toe but not the width. After looking at the x-rays of both her feet they’ve determined that the 2 bones in her big toe are the only bones that seem to be affected.

Since the toes have already reached normal adult size - Lilo had surgery on February 15, 2008 to try to stop the growth. The surgeons made small incisions at a couple of spots on the side of her foot. Then, with what has been described as similar to a dentist's drill, they went in and tried to grind off the ends of the bone - where the growth plates are. They have mixed success with the operation apparently - but if it worked, the toes will stop growing and the rest of her foot will catch up over time. If it doesn't work, then she'll likely have a few more surgeries, including some "debulking" of the soft tissue. In absolute worst case scenarios they would amputate the toe - but we're far way from that. Her surgery was at Sick Kids Hospital here in Toronto, which really is a pretty amazing facility. It has some truly awesome play rooms all throughout the hospital, and as we progressed through the ‘pre-op’ process from the pre-anesthetic clinic, to the OR waiting room, the toys seems to be getting better and better. In fact, before she was put under for a couple of hours, and then woke up with a cast on her leg, Lilo was having one of her most fun days, ever. Everything about the hospital and the people who work there, is intended to make kids feel comfortable, and they really do their job well.
As Lilo's Orthopedic Surgeon says, it might be a little weird, but if a big toe is the worst thing she suffers in life, she'll be doing pretty well. It might be a pain to have to buy 2 sets of shoes until her foot catches up, but in the context of some of the other cases we see at Sick Kids Hospital during visits with Lilo, we feel pretty lucky.