Ortho Appointment

Do I want to start with facts or emotion? I've been able to hold my emotions together so far, but I know it won't last, so I will write the facts first I guess...

Ortho said that the right hip is fine. The position of the legs in the X-rays were not very good which made the right one look out (but it isn't) and made the left one look worse than it is (but it IS out). The doctor looked back at an upper GI X-ray from 2008 and saw that at that point the hips were both in place. I really believe it has only been out the last couple of months when were were hearing a clicking sound with patterning so that is a good thing.

It is hard to sum up everything that was talked about - but basically surgery is scheduled for March 19. Planning to be there at least 48 hours - that is IF Dillon handles the surgery well. They have to go in and cut a tendon in the leg to loosen that muscle and inject a dye into the joint to see if the socket is able to hold the hip ball. If it is able to; between the cut tendon and the fact that he will be under anesthesia they are hoping to pop the hip back into place. If they cannot because the socket is too shallow they will then have to go in and clean out the socket and then put it into place. Changing the 30 minute surgery into 3 hours and changing the number of future surgeries that he will require. No matter which they do, however, he is facing more surgeries in the coming years. The less they have to do now the better for him. If they have to clean the socket out this time - then the next surgery will probably be a bony surgery where they will actually cut the leg, re-angle the bone and use pins and screws to hold it in place. However, if this is done before the age of 10-12 it WILL fail and he will have to go through it again. If we can mange to delay the bony surgery until at least 12 years of age it probably will not fail and he may not need it again. The reason for this is if he is still young his bone is going to "correct" itself and grow back the way it wants to, which will be straight instead of at the angle they want it at.

After the surgery on March 19 - he will have to be in a half body cast for 4 weeks. The cast will go from just below his feeding tube in his stomach down both his legs - which will be in Y position. The left leg will either go to his ankle or possibly to his toes. If they don't need to cut the tendon on the right leg (they will inject the dye in it just to be sure while they are in there) then the right leg may only have to go to the knee, or it might go to the ankle as well. They will try to be able to get him in a oversized car seat, but sometimes they have to take the child home in an ambulance and bring them back in an ambulance 4 weeks later to cut it off because they just don't fit in a car seat. So if that is the case he would be stuck in the house for 4 weeks. They will see about getting us a reclined wheelchair that he would fit in for this time period so we can take him out.

So, why is it dislocated? It is a very common problem with children with Cerebral palsy because their muscles are so tight it is actually pulling the hip out of place. Dillon is on the young side to have it out already which shows the severity of his CP and it also means that he will have more surgeries in his future.

They said there is no rush to get this surgery done, but I believe this hip has only been out for a few months, so I don't want to wait and chance the socket filling in and requiring the more extensive surgery. Plus, if it needs to be done in the near future, I would rather get it done and over with and have the casts off before the baby comes in May. Once the baby is here - it will change things so much and make it just that much harder to deal with surgery and care for him while in the casts.

I am praying for a miracle, though. I still believe God can allow this to be fixed without surgery. I am going to talk to my acupuncturist and see if she can loosen the muscles in his leg/hip area. I know she can do it in his arms and lower legs, so why not the hip? Then I am going to call chiropractors and see if the muscles is loose if they think the can move the hip back in without surgery. Please pray with me that God would allow this method to work - it would be so much better for Dillon! Then we could do braces and stretches to hopefully prevent the surgeries. Please pray with me that this might work! Otherwise it is surgery in a month, 4 weeks of lower body cast, and more hip surgeries in the future.

I was telling Robin today, that no matter what way God has us go, this is not in vain. God wouldn't allow him to go through this for no reason. There must be someone we can help because of what we will go through. I don't know who or why, but there has to be a reason for this...