Page 7 - Nutshell 4

All Thumbs

When their son’s impatience to be born became unbearable, Mr.
Tennyson rushed his wife to the hospital in the middle of the night.
An hour later Mrs. Tennyson, with her husband at her side, was
presented with her baby, already named Thomas.
Tommy smiled at the world. His parents smiled back. But the
obstetrician and nurses did not smile.
“Your baby is perfectly healthy,” began the doctor, a woman who
had seen many strange things in her career. “Except for one thing.”
She unwrapped the swaddling enough to free the newborn’s arms.
“What—what is it?” cried Tommy’s mother. “What’s wrong with
him? He is happy to be here. His head and shoulders look okay.
And—oh, oh! His hands!”
Tommy’s father, who was near-sighted, looked closer.
“He has no fingers! Just thumbs! Ten little thumbs!”
The doctor gave Tommy to his mother to hold. “I’m sorry. This
did not show up on any of the ultrasound scans. His hands were
clenched in fists.”
“It doesn’t matter!” Mrs. Tennyson sat up in bed, clutching Tommy
to her bosom. “We love him!” Tommy gurgled happily, already aware
he was the center of attention and apparently enjoying it.
“Yes,” said Mr. Tennyson, looking defiantly at the doctor. “We are
going to keep him and give him as normal a life as possible. But what
can be done? Is there a surgery?”
“If you are willing to try something experimental, I can refer you to
Dr. Manus. Otherwise…I have no suggestions.”
“Yes!” cried the Tennysons in unison. “We want his advice.”
Two weeks later the Tennysons took Tommy to the university
medical research center. After making many wrong turns in the
labyrinthine hallways, they found the office of Dr. Manus. The
doctor was a surprisingly young man in jeans and a sweatshirt. He
examined Tommy’s tiny hands and nodded.
“Yes,” he said. “A clear case of natus decem polices. A defect—or
mutation, if you prefer—in gene AZ23p-12. Your obstetrician was
right to send you here. Let me explain. This is one of the rarest of the
genetic disorders affecting the hand. Others are polydactyly—more
than four fingers per hand, syndactyly—fingers fused together, and