West New York resident Avik Chopra was on his way home last month after another long day as a computer technician and spied his 3-year-old son, Kavi, playing outside their 67th Street home. Young Kavi also saw his father coming down the street in the family car, and in his excitement, began running to meet him.
Kavi didn’t see the bicycle that belonged to his babysitter’s daughter laid on the ground in front of him. Kavi became entangled in the bicycle and in his zeal to extricate himself, caught his left pinky finger in the bicycle’s chain. Kavi’s forward momentum, combined with the weight of his little body, literally ripped his finger off.
Kavi’s father Avik had a bird’s-eye view of the entire episode. Said Avik in a recent telephone interview, “I saw it happen from my car. At first, I didn’t know what happened. I thought he just fell, but when I got to him, he was screaming, interestingly enough, ‘Call the police! Call the police!’ We called 911 and after a while, we realized no one was coming. I finally drove around and found a police car, which took Kavi to Palisades General Hospital [in North Bergen].”
When the Chopras arrived at Palisades, the prospect for reattaching the finger looked grim. The family was told by doctors at Palisades that the “finger was amputated” and “it’s not going to work,” according to Avik. Fortunately, one of the doctors at Palisades was aware of a new department at the University Hospital in Newark that specialized in microsurgery.
Said Avik to the doctors at the time, “You have to do something.”
Arrival at University and the surgery
Kavi arrived at University at 10 p.m., and by 11:30 was undergoing microsurgery. Dr. Parham Ganchi performed the surgery. Ganchi, a plastic surgeon who at the time of the surgery, had only been at University for four months was nonetheless up to the delicate task.
Said Ganchi, “This was a very difficult surgery. Because the finger was ripped off, the damage was in every direction. This was not like cutting your finger off cleanly with a knife. Usually, successful reattachments occur only when the limb or finger has been cut off because you can see exactly where the damage is. With Kavi, we had to search out the damaged tissue.”
The seven-hour surgery was done in three parts: bone, blood vessels and veins. Ganchi and his surgical team first pieced together the fragmented bones in Kavi’s finger, wrapped them in surgical wire, and inserted a pin the length of his finger. The next part was, according to hospital officials, the toughest.
Using a specialized surgical microscope that possesses 25 times the power of normal human vision, Ganchi found the ends of the nerves and arteries and sutured them.
Said Ganchi, “The most telling moment was when the first artery worked. You watch the finger turn from white to a nice, healthy pink.”
According to the surgeon, another complicating factor was the age and the diminutive size of Kavi.
Said Ganchi, “Microsurgery is challenging to begin with, but when it’s a little kid, everything is so much smaller. The finger he damaged was the littlest one.” Ganchi also admitted to feeling a special kinship with Kavi as Ganchi also has a 3-year-old who he kept seeing in Kavi’s face. Said Ganchi, “It means so much when it’s a little kid.”
A mother’s concern
Kavi’s mother, Shailja, was on her way home when her son’s accident happened. He phone rang and she heard a message form the babysitter that Kavi had “been in an accident.” Said Shailja, “Actually, I thought he just cut himself. I didn’t know the enormity of it. When I got home and saw the finger, I freaked out.”
The concern and frustration didn’t end for Shailja even after arriving at University, a world-renowned trauma center. Said Shailja, “The whole 12 hours was just awful. I said, ‘Please, God, help him.’ He has his whole life in front of him. The whole experience was just awful.”
Kavi’s Prognosis
According to Kavi’s surgeon, Dr. Parham Ganchi, “His prognosis is excellent. The good thing is that, because he’s so young, he’ll heal really fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gains full function of the finger.”
Ganchi’s positive prognosis also has a lot to do with Kavi’s outlook. Said the doctor, “He did wonderfully before, during and after the surgery. He’s an amazing little boy. I have a 3-year-old too. He’s a smart little guy. He couldn’t have been more cooperative. This ranks up there on the list of most rewarding things I’ve ever done as a doctor. I feel really close to him.”
Said Kavi, in a telephone interview, “I am happy I have my full finger.”
Kavi’s mother, Shailja, said that when she first got to him, he was crying and quite upset, but as soon as he realized he was in a police car, he calmed down. Said Shailja, “He was quite enamoured with being in a police car.”
The youngster’s precocious nature sometimes gets the best of him, according to his father. Said Avik Chopra, “As he was being wheeled out of the operating room, we go to the elevators and said, ‘I want to push the buttons!’. He loves to put his hands in places. That’s why he gets in so much trouble.”