Nathan's surgery is...a success!
Thank you all for your prayers through this very long day. Nathan did just fine with his surgery. He's recovering now on the 10th floor of Children's. They tell us he might even be able to go home tomorrow.
From what the doctor tells us, his femur was a little more damaged than she had anticipated, but she put all the bones in the right place and now we just have to wait and pray that body lets them grow properly. She tells us that it's likely the he'll need another surgery later on in life and she'll be watching him until the hip is done growing.
The good news is, he'll likely only be in the cast for 6 weeks, and then he'll have a removable brace for a little while. Also, the surgery fixed most of his leg length difference. There's still a small discrepancy, but it might not be an issue at all.
So, now we just have to wait. After today, our prayer is that God will guide the growth of his hip and that it would heal into a perfectly normal joint. We'll keep you all updated as we learn more info.
Save the Date
We have a surgery date for Nathan – it’s MONDAY!
That in itself is a miracle since we thought it would take 4-6 weeks to get a date and it’s been just TWO. We squeezed in an appointment with Nathan’s pediatrician this morning so we could do the whole 15 month checkup without a cast on and discovered that in the past three months Nathan has gone from the 5th to the 50th percentile in height – no WONDER the leg length difference has become so pronounced! We have a pre-op appointment on Friday to get all our questions answered (I’m sure the docs have some things to do too) and then Nathan will likely be the first surgery of the day on Monday. We don’t feel in the least bit prepared, but we are so glad to get the surgery done and get on with healing.
So will you save the date and pray for us, keep us in your thoughts, send us good vibes (xylophones, marimbas…) or whatever it is you do? And would you leave us a note letting us know?
We’re praying for:
- uncomplicated surgery
- 6 weeks in the cast, maximum
- no future hip or leg length problems
- no more medical surprises, EVER
I already told Nathan we’re not doing this again next year…
Hip Update
I had a good conversation yesterday with Dr. Spencer – Nathan’s orthopedist. She confirmed for us that the condition Nathan has is called Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH or Hip Dysplasia). His has the most severe form – the hip is fully dislocated. The details that we have clarified are:
- We do not need to have additional imaging done before the surgery.
- The plan is to reposition the hip and then see how it grows – this means there is nothing they might see while doing the surgery that would cause them to do anything extra or unexpected.
- First they will try a “closed reduction” – minimally invasive surgery, the hip moves back into place, and Nathan is in a cast to keep the hip in position.
- The average time in a cast after a closed reduction is 3 months.
- If the closed reduction is not successful they will move right into an “open reduction” – a more invasive surgery that requires more manipulation on the surgeon’s part to get the hip into place, followed by casting.
- The average time in a cast after an open reduction is 6 weeks followed by a long term brace – I have no idea why the more invasive surgery comes with less “cast time.”
- While this may sound sever, both of these are “minor surgeries” (Dr. Spencer’s words)
- The cast is called a “spica” cast – at least initially it will go from Nathan’s ankles to above his bellybutton and will include both legs to completely stabilize and immobilize his hip. Here’s an example:
Spica Cast
- The cast will be changed about once a month and each time will cover less of his body; after the initial cast it will also be waterproof so that Nathan can have a bath and go “swimming.”
- The surgery will immediately improve the “leg length discrepancy.” Nathan may always have a funny gait, but he his legs will be pretty much if not perfectly even.
- There is a chance that even once in position, the top of the femur (the “ball”) will not grow normally – Dr. Spencer called this having a “growth disturbance”. If this is the case, it does not necessarily mean it will need to be corrected – we’ll just have to wait and see.
- Dr. Spencer will monitor Nathan’s hips until he is done growing – “throughout his childhood.”
There’s a lot of good overview on the Children’s Hospital Website including a video series discussing DDH.
A lot of the information does not apply to Nathan since his issue is that the hip is dislocated and his dysplasia is not congenital (he hasn’t had it from birth). If you follow through the series, #1 is an overview (though Nathan’s form is not that the hip is too shallow), #2 covers diagnosis, #10 talks briefly about the surgery that Nathan will have – closed or open reduction and #11 talks about the experience Children’s Hospital doctors have with this condition and other hip issues.
And as a reward for reading all this (and because this blog is getting way too text heavy), here are some pictures of Nathan playing with / showing off for his Grandpa.
showing off for Gramdpa
still working on going DOWN stairs
Grandpa, here I come!
A Mama can dream
So, I don’t want a bigger place to live (I mean, someday, yah, absolutely, and if you want to give me a house I won’t turn it down, but we’re happy where we are right now) and I don’t want to have more stuff, but I do want to learn how to sew and have time and space to do it. Because there are so many things that you could spend time trying to find and buy, or that you could just make yourself. Like beanbags. And fabric is so pretty!
I’m not sure where this urge is coming from, but as we start to think about accommodating Nathan’s cast, it’s just getting worse. Probably because I announced to Tim that the one house project that has to happen before surgery is getting our bedroom under control. We’ve been warned that sometimes sleeping is the hardest part for kids in these casts, and that some families end up moving kiddo into the big bed and one parent to the couch. Our bedroom is a hazard to move around without worrying about carrying a heavy baby in a full leg cast! Of course, instead of addressing the really necessary things (clearing walking space, storing those maternity clothes...) I’m daydreaming about curtains and duvet covers. What is wrong with me?
Even before this room improvement decision I was thinking that maybe if I could "just" get all the clutter and junk out of our house I could find room for a little sewing machine. Where I’ll find time, skills or room for projects, I have no idea. Until then, I guess I can ask Nana for help. Because, if you know us, you know there are three sewing machines living in our basement and a seamstress living upstairs...
First Step!!!!
Nathan took his first step this morning! It was messy, and was followed by a lung and fall into Mama's arms and a realization that crawling is still the fastest mode of transportation, so that step has not been repeated, but still, it was a step! Yay Nathan! We're excited but also not really pushing independent walking because we feel bad enough thinking about him being stuck in a cast and would hate for it to take away independent walking along with everything else, sigh... But it's still pretty great.