I'm pretty big on remembering dates - so I was floored as I happened to be reading my first posts on this blog earlier and noted that a year ago today, Annabelle got her Pavlik Harness. I had felt some kind of premonition that our journey with Hip Dysplasia would not be brief, and that I would need an outlet - somewhere to share my thoughts and feelings, as well as Annabelle's progress.
What a year.
February 18, 2012 (birth day) : click felt in right hip on exam, xray unremarkable
February 22, 2012 : four day checkup, no click felt, Pediatrician recommends followup ultrasound at 6wks (the "gold standard" for followup)
March 21, 2012 : one month checkup, no click felt.
April 2, 2012 (6wks, 2 days old) : bilateral hip dysplasia diagnosis via ultrasound
April 9, 2012 (7wks, 2 days old) : Pavlik Harness treatment started
4 weeks in Pavlik Harness - no success.
4 weeks in Rhino Cruiser - left hip successfully reduced, right hip still dislocated
June 4, 2012 (15wks, 2 days old) : attempted closed reduction - no success, back to Rhino cruiser
July 17, 2012 : right hip still dislocated, left hip still in place
September 19, 2012 : right hip still dislocated, left hip still in place, surgery scheduled
October 9, 2012 : Open Reduction and Capsulorrhaphy of the right hip, spica cast
November 21, 2012 : Spica cast off after six weeks, both hips in place, able to be out of Rhino cruiser 3-4hrs a day
November 26, 2012 : James and I were concerned about Annabelle's range of motion - hip still fine.
January 16, 2013 : Both hips still in place, able to be out of Rhino cruiser 6-8hrs a day.
March 20, 2013 : Both hips still in place, able to be out of Rhino during all waking hours.
And I am overjoyed to report today that Annabelle, as of today, is properly crawling - with her knees! She's still pretty slow - she moves faster when she's army crawling, but this girl won't stop! She's been successfully sitting up for two weeks, pulling herself up since January, and cruising furniture for at least a month (bad mom, I don't have the dates memorized - I will have to check back on my Facebook statuses. Stati?) Last week she took off walking with a walker. I was floored.
Now I'm just looking forward to seeing my tiny girl walk, and to hear the words I've been longing to hear for so long: Healthy Hips. We're so close.
Showing posts with label closed reduction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label closed reduction. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Monday, June 4, 2012
we are home
This morning didn't go as expected, but as the day has gone on, I'm not as upset about it ... in fact, it's a bit more on the positive side than I realized ...
She went in for surgery ... anesthesia, the whole bit ... but ...
Dr Olney was unable to reduce Annabelle's hip ... (i.e. he couldn't get it to align, and her right hip is still out of place). Her left hip is still where it needs to be and he said it looks good.
So ... instead of casting her today ... we are home. She will continue the brace in order to provide support to her left hip, but we will wean her out of the brace. She can now have 4 hours out of the brace a day.
This fall, when she is older, and her bones are more mature, she will have an OPEN reduction (instead of the closed reduction that was scheduled for today). It is just like it sounds ... they will go into her hip ... clean out any tissue that is obstructing the joint and preventing it from aligning, and reduce the hip that way. Check out this link for more info.
Afterwards, she'll be in the spica cast for 6 weeks, and then back to the brace she's in now. No re-casting. Just one surgery. Hopefully, that will fix her hip.
In the meantime, not having her dislocated hip braced will not affect the outcome. Dr Olney says this ... he's been doing this for 20+ years ... he's the Chief of Orthopedic Surgery ... I trust him. (okay, mom?)
Ultimate Goal: Healthy Hips, full function.
They told us to expect her to be veeeeeeeery sleepy for the rest of the day, and she might have a rough 24 hours.
I had planned to do a photo tour of our day ... (last photo of legs, etc...) but since that is irrelevant now ... I'll do a mini tour ...
She's zonked out now, and snoring ... hopefully the rest of today and tonight go well.
She went in for surgery ... anesthesia, the whole bit ... but ...
Dr Olney was unable to reduce Annabelle's hip ... (i.e. he couldn't get it to align, and her right hip is still out of place). Her left hip is still where it needs to be and he said it looks good.
So ... instead of casting her today ... we are home. She will continue the brace in order to provide support to her left hip, but we will wean her out of the brace. She can now have 4 hours out of the brace a day.
This fall, when she is older, and her bones are more mature, she will have an OPEN reduction (instead of the closed reduction that was scheduled for today). It is just like it sounds ... they will go into her hip ... clean out any tissue that is obstructing the joint and preventing it from aligning, and reduce the hip that way. Check out this link for more info.
Afterwards, she'll be in the spica cast for 6 weeks, and then back to the brace she's in now. No re-casting. Just one surgery. Hopefully, that will fix her hip.
In the meantime, not having her dislocated hip braced will not affect the outcome. Dr Olney says this ... he's been doing this for 20+ years ... he's the Chief of Orthopedic Surgery ... I trust him. (okay, mom?)
Ultimate Goal: Healthy Hips, full function.
They told us to expect her to be veeeeeeeery sleepy for the rest of the day, and she might have a rough 24 hours.
I had planned to do a photo tour of our day ... (last photo of legs, etc...) but since that is irrelevant now ... I'll do a mini tour ...
 |
| Annabelle couldn't have any breastmilk after 1:30am. She could have clear liquids (i.e. Pedialyte) until 4am, so I woke her at 3:30 and she drank 5oz. She didn't really wake up, but she did drink. |
 | ||
| Here we go! |
 |
| scared Mommy, hungry baby |
 | |
| I'll be okay mommy, and aren't I cute? Won't you please feed me? |
 |
| Sleeeeeepy baby in the recovery room. It took removing her IV (in her elbow at the bottom of the pic) to wake her up. She nursed after that. They told us she might be very sleepy for the rest of the day ... |
 |
| After arriving home ... my happy, happy girl. |
The wait is over.
I am so glad that today is here.
The building anticipation of the last four weeks is quickly coming to a finish. Over the entire weekend, I just wanted today to be here. I want the surgery over. I want to know that my baby is okay. I want to hear the good news that they were able to reduce her hip and she is in the cast.
Her surgery is scheduled for 7:30. We have to be there at 6:00.
Her cutoff for milk was 1:30, and for clear liquids (Pedialyte) was 4:00.
She normally sleeps from 9:30ish to 5am. I didn't wake her at 1:00 for a breastfeed (mostly because I went to bed around midnight), but I did pick her up at 3:30 for a bottle of Pedialyte. It took 30 minutes, but she drank 5oz. It was weird giving her a bottle.
She's snoozing away now - oblivious to the upcoming events for the day. I'm glad for that. I'm happy every day that this was caught early so that we can be on the road to recovery before she ever remembers it.
I've never prayed this much in my life. Right now I have an eerie sense of calm about me. I hope it continues throughout the day.
The building anticipation of the last four weeks is quickly coming to a finish. Over the entire weekend, I just wanted today to be here. I want the surgery over. I want to know that my baby is okay. I want to hear the good news that they were able to reduce her hip and she is in the cast.
Her surgery is scheduled for 7:30. We have to be there at 6:00.
Her cutoff for milk was 1:30, and for clear liquids (Pedialyte) was 4:00.
She normally sleeps from 9:30ish to 5am. I didn't wake her at 1:00 for a breastfeed (mostly because I went to bed around midnight), but I did pick her up at 3:30 for a bottle of Pedialyte. It took 30 minutes, but she drank 5oz. It was weird giving her a bottle.
She's snoozing away now - oblivious to the upcoming events for the day. I'm glad for that. I'm happy every day that this was caught early so that we can be on the road to recovery before she ever remembers it.
I've never prayed this much in my life. Right now I have an eerie sense of calm about me. I hope it continues throughout the day.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
spica, here we come
Our visit this morning had both some expected, and some unexpected news ...
The Rhino cruiser helped Annabelle's left hip. It's now in place, and Dr Olney anticipates it should stay there. It will need to continue to be braced for awhile to provide stability to the hip joint as it grows and hardens.
It did not help her right hip. He said that there is no improvement. So we are going to continue ahead with the scheduled closed reduction on Monday (today is Thursday). During this, she will be put under general anesthesia, dye will be injected into her hip, and this will allow him to reduce the hip, or manually put it in place. He may or may not need to do a tenotomy, to cut a tendon to allow the hip to be reduced. If all goes well, the hip will reduce, and she will be in a spica cast for 3 months. The cast will be changed out after 6 weeks.
If the hip does NOT reduce, we will not do the cast, she will go back into her Rhino cruiser until she's 6 months old, when she would have an OPEN reduction, or actual surgery on the hip joint.
We asked him if surgery was the best option, seeing as the Rhino cruiser helped her left hip - could it help her right one? He said if there had been any improvement, they might try that first, but seeing as her right hip is essentially unchanged - the best option going forward is the closed reduction/spica cast. Both hips will be in the cast, and this will not hurt her healing left hip at all - but it will continue to provide support.
If she's placed in the Spica cast, we'll likely stay overnight on Monday. If the hip doesn't reduce, we'll go home the same day.
I'm praying for the cast.
The Rhino cruiser helped Annabelle's left hip. It's now in place, and Dr Olney anticipates it should stay there. It will need to continue to be braced for awhile to provide stability to the hip joint as it grows and hardens.
It did not help her right hip. He said that there is no improvement. So we are going to continue ahead with the scheduled closed reduction on Monday (today is Thursday). During this, she will be put under general anesthesia, dye will be injected into her hip, and this will allow him to reduce the hip, or manually put it in place. He may or may not need to do a tenotomy, to cut a tendon to allow the hip to be reduced. If all goes well, the hip will reduce, and she will be in a spica cast for 3 months. The cast will be changed out after 6 weeks.
If the hip does NOT reduce, we will not do the cast, she will go back into her Rhino cruiser until she's 6 months old, when she would have an OPEN reduction, or actual surgery on the hip joint.
We asked him if surgery was the best option, seeing as the Rhino cruiser helped her left hip - could it help her right one? He said if there had been any improvement, they might try that first, but seeing as her right hip is essentially unchanged - the best option going forward is the closed reduction/spica cast. Both hips will be in the cast, and this will not hurt her healing left hip at all - but it will continue to provide support.
If she's placed in the Spica cast, we'll likely stay overnight on Monday. If the hip doesn't reduce, we'll go home the same day.
I'm praying for the cast.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)