During Molly's 9 month well visit at the beginning of June, her pediatrician suspected some hip instability and gave us an order for a hip x-ray. We were supposed to leave the next morning for vacation and she said just to get the x-ray done when we got back. We did, and last Friday she called to say that the x-rays showed that Molly had hip dysplasia (explained here) on the left side. The next step was to make a visit to the orthopedic surgeon to have things explained and talk about treatment and we did that today.
So here's the deal...
In Molly's case, her hip is not currently out of socket but rather the socket is too shallow to house the "ball" of her leg bone for any length of time so it needs to be fixed before she develops any further. This happens mostly in girls (check), mostly in first-borns (check), and mostly in breech births (not us). The treatment is this--while she is under anesthesia they will perform an arthrogram (an injection of contrast material into the joint allowing them to see the soft tissue surrounding the bone), then they will position the ball in the socket and cast her hips in a spica cast (a lower body cast that goes from her waist down both legs and keeps her in "horseback riding" position). The surgery is non-invasive and she will only be kept overnight. She will be in said cast for 6 weeks at which point they will repeat the arthrogram and decide if she needs another spica cast. This will happen in 6 week increments until her hip instability is resolved. While in the cast, the bone will constantly be applying pressure on the socket forcing it to reform around the bone creating a deeper, better fit (my humble interpretation of the doctor's explanation). We are waiting to hear about dates for treatment. He wants to get her scheduled within the next three weeks.
Great and wonderful things:
*God is in control!
*Molly's sweet spirit and repeated displays of resilience
*Our ortho and our urologist know each other and will be in communication about each other's procedures concerning Molly. Her urology surgery will likely happen between casts.
*She won't remember any of this:)!
Please pray for:
*An easy transition (for all of us) from mostly-mobile-Molly to mostly-anchored-and-uncomfortable-Molly
*Smooth, steady procedures and wise, focused doctors
*Healing in one 6 week period
*Quick "catching up" on skills that will be delayed due to the cast
God has big plans for Molls...He's getting her all ready for them!
Thank you for your prayers on behalf of our dear baby!
Ashleigh and Ryan
UPDATE:
Molly's closed reduction hip surgery has been scheduled for Tuesday, July 6th at 8 a.m. We also had a follow up (from January) appointment with her urologist today. He said that since she is urologically stable at this point (no UTIs since October, doing well on her current antibiotic) the hip surgery trumps his surgery in terms of urgency. He will reevaluate her via cystogram and ultrasound after she is both out of the spica cast and a year old (September 1st). He thinks that surgery is still inevitable at this point but he said things can change between now and then. Please join us in praying specifically for that change!
We will be leaving this afternoon (possibly tomorrow at this rate!) for a previously scheduled trip to Kentucky to see my parents and be back by Monday to prepare for Tuesday's surgery. Thank you for praying!
UPDATE #2:
Hello Friends,
Thank you so much for the messages, texts, calls and most of all the prayers for us today. Molly's surgery took place at 11 a.m. this morning after being bumped a couple of times for other emergencies. I was holding her by 1 p.m. and, though she hadn't eaten since 9:30 p.m. last night, she was still waving at the nurses and even managed a smile...God knew just what we needed for comfort that everything is indeed going to be just fine. She's done as well as can be expected since she's been out of surgery and Ryan and I are rapidly learning what it takes to care for a "hip baby".
The doctor reported that the dysplasia was in fact in the left side only (yay!) and that she will definitely need at least one more cast after these six weeks are up. Because of the condition being one-sided her right leg is only cast to the knee (another yay!) instead of to the ankle like her left leg. She gets quite upset when she tries to move and realizes she can't and looks to Ryan and me with a "help me" face that is just heartbreaking but I know that it will become easier and easier as the days go by.
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