Polydactyly_Diana+Ferrari

Polydactyly by Diana Ferrari

One day a girl named Delilah went to her first day of high school. There were going to be a bunch of new students and teachers, and she was really nervous. She was especially nervous because she thought she was going to get teased because Delilah has polydactyly, which is a condition where a person has more than five fingers and toes. She had always gotten teased in the past, and is nervous to see what the high schoolers have to say. Delilah got to school, and it immediately started off bad. A senior named Jake came over and said "Hey everybody, look! The new freshman has an extra finger and toe!" The hallway started breaking out in laughter, and Delilah was so emberassed. She ran away from everybody and then went into the girls bathroom and cried. Her mom came to school, picked her up, and drove her home. "Delilah, we are going to talk to Dr. Guglani. Hopefully you can talk it out with him, and see what he has to say, okay?" "Okay, mom." said Delilah. They got to Dr. Guglani's office. "Delilah" said Dr. Guglani. Delilah walked back with Dr. Guglani. "I heard you're upset about having polydactyly, Delilah" said Dr. Guglani. "Yes, I am. You see, today was my first day of high school, and right away I was being made fun of. I barely know what polydactyly even is! All I know is that it gives me extra fingers and toes." "I see" said Dr. Guglani. "Well Delilah, polydactyly is mostly inherited in African Americans. It starts out in the shape of a paddle, and then splits. Your extra fingers are usually smaller than your other fingers. It's attatched by a small stalk. It can be made up of skin and soft tissue, skin and soft tissue and bone, or skin and soft tissue and bone and joint. Most forms are treated surgically, but only for one to two year olds. Every 2 in 1,000 children have polydactyly. There are a few tests we have done on you when you were an infant. For your fingers we did enzyme tests, chromosone studies, x-rays, and a more advanced test, embryofetoscopy. For your toes we did Hikosaka. We found out that you inherited your polydactyly from your great grandfather. You have post axial type B polydactyly, which is when you have an extra pinkie that is fully grown." "Wow Dr. Guglani! That's pretty interesting. You know what, knowing that only every 2 in 1,000 children have polydactyly, I think that makes me unique. I actually think it is kind of cool!" "Well you are absolutely right, Delilah. It is very unique that you have polydactyly. You know, the kids at school probably weren't surrounding you because they wanted to make fun of you, they probably thought it was really cool. Kids that age usually think that these things are really cool, so don't worry about that." "Okay I will try. You know, that makes much more sense now. Thank you so much Dr. Guglani!" "Any time Delilah, any time."