*pmkmp*

foreverinlove31

Hi I was just checking to see how your DD was doing? Back in September you and I discussed the hip dysplasia surgery she had because my daughter Ashlyn is about to go through it.  Just checking in with you to see how she is doing?  I hope she is good. We have Ashlyns appt. coming up to discuss the surgery and set it all up.  So of course my stomach is now all in knots.  Its been so nice these last 3 months to have her out of her casts(for club feet) and to have her only wear her shoe brace at night.  She is doing the army crawl and she is just as happy as can be so scared she won't be the happy girl anymore once she is casted again:(  I hope all is well with you guys as I think your DD should be getting her cast off soon or maybe she already did.  Thanks again for all your help.

pmkmp

Hey there!  Aubrey is doing great!  She got her cast off about 2 weeks ago.  She was in quite a bit of pain for about 4-5 days after the cast came off.  I guess that's normal being the muscles and joints hadn't moved for nearly 12 weeks.  Even her skin was sensitive.  The doc still wants her hips to be relatively immobile so she has a hip harness.  It's not nearly as annoying as the cast was.  None of it has phased Aubrey though.  She's been a happy camper through it all.  Have they decided what kind of surgery they'll be doing on Ashlyn and how long she will be in the cast?

foreverinlove31

Thats great her cast is off.  I am glad she is doing good and did good throughout it all.  I met with the orthopedic surgeon today and it looks like he is still waiting for the hip bone to mature, but it looks like we will be doing her surgery sometime in April.  Ashlyn will be a year in March so he said anywhere between 12-18 months is when he would like to the surgery.  She is going to have a open reduction surgery so yeah I am off to research that now.  From what I have read so far is that open seems more agressive then closed.  Great! Then after her casts she will also be placed in a harness.  He said she will be in a cast for 3 months, but u were right her cast will only go down 1/2 of her left leg with a bar between her knees.  How long does Aubrey wear the harness for? 

pmkmp

Yes, open reduction is much more invasive.  We were told open reduction was a possibility for Aubrey, but in the end she only had to have closed reduction on both hips.  Aubrey wore her cast for 3 months too.  Here's a tip for the cast.... keep it clean or it stinks!!!  In other words, change her padding every hour or two and even make a point to change it during the night.  Once pee (or god forbid, poo) gets on it, it stinks. I would imagine the recovery time for open reduction would be a bit longer... Aubrey was in pain for a few days after the surgery... guessing it might be longer for Ashlyn.

Aubrey will wear her harness 23 out of 24 hours for 6 weeks or so.  At that time we will start giving her more and more time out of the harness until she's just wearing it for naps and bedtime.  I'm actually relieved that she has to wear a harness because my own sanity depended on it!  I kept having nightmares that I'd pick her up shortly after the cast came off and I'd feel her hip pop out of place!  This way I'm eased into Aubrey's new world - we got to be rather dependent on that cast!

pmkmp

By the way, here's the link to our CaringBridge site.  You can read about Aubrey's cast and in the photos section, on pages 3 & 4, there are pictures of her in her cast.....

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/aubreyandnathan