Man, every time I think about it, I remember something else I never posted about. So. . . I know India's on the list but I was realizing today that it's been a long time since I've really said anything about Miss D's hips. Which is odd, in some ways, because actually it's a source of huge obsession for me. Like seriously, all the time. There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not somehow stressed about it. Sometimes, it results in me calling our ortho in a panic or sending a message to one of several email groups. But mostly, it just involves me googling some random obscure issue over and over again. This week, I happened to see something in one of my hip groups about an adult with ongoing issues even after surgery. Which freaked me the hell out because I thought the whole point of all this was to ensure that there WERE no ongoing issues. Like OMG, is she not going to be able to be a cheerleader if she wants or run marathons??? So now I've been trying to dig up everything there is (which is pretty much nothing) on the long term effects of hip dysplasia.
For a long time before this current issue cropped up, I worried that she was making too little progress, as she's always seemed super stiff with her legs, especially on the right where she had the closed reduction. Our doc has said that objectively, there's no real reason for this difference and things should just improve with time. But man, it's tough to wait. And the longer I wait, the more I find to worry about.
Despite my constant fears, the hips are actually coming along quite well. In October (god, I can't believe I didn't blog about this, or did I??), our doc let us take the brace off during the day. It was pretty awesome too. Our little miss was crawling around on the floor (I'm not even sure I mentioned she had started crawling. For a long time, it was an army crawl but then eventually worked its way into a real crawl). Anyway, she was making her getaway from our waiting room - and honestly who can blame her, these appointments take FOREVER. And suddenly, there was our doc, saying that she might be getting a bit more mobile here pretty soon. The brace stayed for naps and nighttime, but during the day, she was FREE.
Then I worried that she wasn't as mobile as quickly as we thought she'd be. Honestly, for the most part still, we can't really tell the difference between brace off and on. She tends to hold her legs in the same position regardless, and it's taken me a while to adjust to the fact that this is the way it's going to be for a long, long time. Apparently, even when she finally walks, she'll most likely do it with her legs in a V-position for quite a while.
The crazy thing is that every time I start to really panic about something, something will happen. Some small hint of progress that restores my faith in our doc, who's said from the beginning that everything will take time, and that we just have to be patient and let our awesome girl do her thing. That as long as there's progress, no matter how small, we're looking good. And x-ray wise, our doc keeps telling me, the hips are looking great. In August, there was little progress, but in October, there was substantial development of the socket and the angles were almost where they needed to be. Those of you who know me know that patience is definitely not my thing, but time and time again, our kid has proven the doc right. In this case, soon after I called, worried that our kid was still JUST crawling and with a super wide stance at that, she suddenly started to pull herself up a bit here and there. Not up straight really, but more onto things. And then it was onto taller and taller things.
The change mostly started to happen just after Christmas. Her Auntie M and Uncle J got her a cute little ladybug thing to ride. We got her a big ol' train. And within a week or so, she was pulling herself onto them and riding them! And I don't know, it probably doesn't seem like that big a deal to the average parent because she was climbing up things before too but more like cushions and stuff. But for us every little accomplishment is oh so huge -- she seems to work so hard at them.
And then, just before our trip at the end of January, G said he saw her pull up almost completely straight. Dude, he said, she's pretty damn tall when she's completely upright. I didn't get to see it for a while, but while we were in India, she was standing up constantly. She's definitely got the V going still but her legs are so much closer together now than they used to be. And her legs a lot less shakier too. I love it, too, she's so frickin' proud of herself every time she does it. We'll ask her if she wants to practice standing and she'll say, "tan'ing?" and pull on up with a huge grin.
Even bigger news is that just before our trip, we had another x-ray and our doc decided to take the brace off for good. No more naps or night time. Which is awesome because we hadn't really been using the brace anyway since she had some moster pee episodes overnight and we couldn't get the stink out. That was pretty cool too. I told our doc that we needed a new brace cuz ours was disgusting, and she responded with, "Well, actually, I was thinking more, no brace. How do you feel about that?"
It wasn't the, we're all done with this shit forever and ever kind of news I would have liked. In the past, our doc has said that the brace will come off either when our kid learns to take it off herself (2ish) or if her hips get completely healed. Neither really happened here though. Turned out that the x-ray tech had done a crappy job taking the x-ray so she couldn't really measure the angles. But, everything else looked good so she felt confident letting us take it off. And for now, I'll guess I'll take it. I think mostly, she's hoping that D's hips will get a little less stiff, allowing her to become more mobile, which in turn will hopefully strengthen her hips more. So we'll see how it all goes.
I have a feeling that the next step is still a ways off, but who knows. Maybe our munchkin will surprise us. But then OMG, what will I obsess about next???? I'll have all these extra hours at work where I'll have nothing left to google. Plus, our ortho is going on maternity leave for a few months -- doesn't she deserve at least one frantic call from me during that time? On the other hand, how cool is this -- our kid has been pretty much ahead of schedule with respect to every aspect of this thing (well, except the actual moving around part). Spica cast -- off in 6 weeks, brace -- "get that thing off me or I'll pee on it again." She's definitely moving right along.
Then I worried that she wasn't as mobile as quickly as we thought she'd be. Honestly, for the most part still, we can't really tell the difference between brace off and on. She tends to hold her legs in the same position regardless, and it's taken me a while to adjust to the fact that this is the way it's going to be for a long, long time. Apparently, even when she finally walks, she'll most likely do it with her legs in a V-position for quite a while.
The crazy thing is that every time I start to really panic about something, something will happen. Some small hint of progress that restores my faith in our doc, who's said from the beginning that everything will take time, and that we just have to be patient and let our awesome girl do her thing. That as long as there's progress, no matter how small, we're looking good. And x-ray wise, our doc keeps telling me, the hips are looking great. In August, there was little progress, but in October, there was substantial development of the socket and the angles were almost where they needed to be. Those of you who know me know that patience is definitely not my thing, but time and time again, our kid has proven the doc right. In this case, soon after I called, worried that our kid was still JUST crawling and with a super wide stance at that, she suddenly started to pull herself up a bit here and there. Not up straight really, but more onto things. And then it was onto taller and taller things.
The change mostly started to happen just after Christmas. Her Auntie M and Uncle J got her a cute little ladybug thing to ride. We got her a big ol' train. And within a week or so, she was pulling herself onto them and riding them! And I don't know, it probably doesn't seem like that big a deal to the average parent because she was climbing up things before too but more like cushions and stuff. But for us every little accomplishment is oh so huge -- she seems to work so hard at them.
And then, just before our trip at the end of January, G said he saw her pull up almost completely straight. Dude, he said, she's pretty damn tall when she's completely upright. I didn't get to see it for a while, but while we were in India, she was standing up constantly. She's definitely got the V going still but her legs are so much closer together now than they used to be. And her legs a lot less shakier too. I love it, too, she's so frickin' proud of herself every time she does it. We'll ask her if she wants to practice standing and she'll say, "tan'ing?" and pull on up with a huge grin.
Even bigger news is that just before our trip, we had another x-ray and our doc decided to take the brace off for good. No more naps or night time. Which is awesome because we hadn't really been using the brace anyway since she had some moster pee episodes overnight and we couldn't get the stink out. That was pretty cool too. I told our doc that we needed a new brace cuz ours was disgusting, and she responded with, "Well, actually, I was thinking more, no brace. How do you feel about that?"
It wasn't the, we're all done with this shit forever and ever kind of news I would have liked. In the past, our doc has said that the brace will come off either when our kid learns to take it off herself (2ish) or if her hips get completely healed. Neither really happened here though. Turned out that the x-ray tech had done a crappy job taking the x-ray so she couldn't really measure the angles. But, everything else looked good so she felt confident letting us take it off. And for now, I'll guess I'll take it. I think mostly, she's hoping that D's hips will get a little less stiff, allowing her to become more mobile, which in turn will hopefully strengthen her hips more. So we'll see how it all goes.
I have a feeling that the next step is still a ways off, but who knows. Maybe our munchkin will surprise us. But then OMG, what will I obsess about next???? I'll have all these extra hours at work where I'll have nothing left to google. Plus, our ortho is going on maternity leave for a few months -- doesn't she deserve at least one frantic call from me during that time? On the other hand, how cool is this -- our kid has been pretty much ahead of schedule with respect to every aspect of this thing (well, except the actual moving around part). Spica cast -- off in 6 weeks, brace -- "get that thing off me or I'll pee on it again." She's definitely moving right along.
Something tells me you will find plenty google about. Toddlers get into all kinds of things (and then eat it) and don't even think about the teenage years. Don't you feel better now knowing you will have PLENTY to stress about ;) Keep on updating us!
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