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Parents Prosthesis Child
What Happened To My Baby?
There are a number of causes for congenital
limb differences. Radial aplasia is a birth defect of the lower
arm. Radial aplasia means a failure of the radius, the long bone
at the wrist behind the thumb, to grow. There are a number of causes
for congenital limb differences like aplasia. Sometimes it is an
unfortunate and unknowable combination of genes between mother and
father. It appears that sometimes these are genetic misfortunes
between family gene pools, and sometimes to a damaged gene due to
a chemical or radiological root cause, on behalf of either a particular
egg cell, or a particular sperm cell. Current theory regarding "radiological"
root causes may be the penetrating cosmic radiation associated with
downs syndrome among older moms.
Mom's eggs are hers for a lifetime, whereas sperm cells individually
have a very short life span. A particular sperm cell, of course,
might be damaged by a random strike, but probabilities are that
the longer-lived egg cells are more vulnerable, due to longer exposure
to the same random cosmic particles. Chemical damage to an egg cell
or a sperm cell is another matter entirely. Each of us have heard
of the consequences of moms taking a medicine called Thalidimide.
Following that sad time, there has been unprecedented research and
testing prior to approving any given drug for the public, but in
our world, we are constantly absorbing all kinds of chemicals from
our environment, from medicines, insecticides, cleaning chemicals,
foods and even chemicals from the clothes we wear. The MARCH of
DIMES is the primary source of funds for ongoing research to isolate
and remove chemicals of a harmful nature. Before moms and dads go
into genetic counseling, though, we should mention that the best,
the medical community understands it. By far the most often encountered
cause of congenital limb difference is "amniotic banding".
Very early in every pregnancy, the mom's womb begins
to grow a web of filaments to support the growing weight of the
fetus, and to hold the fetus more securely. It is thought that occasionally
one of the filaments breaks, or pulls loose from the uterine wall,
and then curls in reaction to the loss of tension. Sometimes it
wraps around of of the tiny limbs, thus cutting off further development.
A characteristic of this type of accident is the presence of tiny
"nubbins" of fingers or toes apparent. (Please do not
let an over-anxious doctor surgically remove any of these nubbins,
or let a general practice prosthetist talk you into removing them
"for efficient prosthetic fitting" purposes. These nubbins
provide a sense of touch that might prove extremely important during
your child's future).
In conclusion, for the purposes of this introduction,
we sincerely hope you can simply come to view your child's limb
difference as an unavoidable accident, over which you had no control.
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