Although we are very sad and frustrated and all those things, we also know that 1) we can handle a spica cast again. We did it before, we can do it again! and 2) this 12 weeks will hopefully go by faster than last time.
Here are her x-rays so you can sort of see what's going on. Unfortunately the thing that you can barely see on the actual x-ray is pretty much nonexistant in this copy-of-a-copy, but you can see that her left hip bone is positioned correctly and her right hip is not. Above the left hip in that gray space is a very light almost transparent kidney shaped dot that is her socket forming. There is no such thing on her right hip. And it's too far up.
This one is a little easier to see how different the bone fits into the hip.
First, I do want to mention that there was nothing we did or could have done to dislocate her hip. Standing up, being thrown onto the couch by her high-flying-fun daddy, or anything else would not have done it. It just plain wasn't growing right.We'd like to ask a favor of everyone. Over this past week we've had so many wonderful friends and family ask what they can do and we now have a JOB for you! Jon and I are firm believers in positive thoughts and how they really can make a difference. We want to ask you all to send good thoughts, prayers and positive vibes our way. THINK that hip back into the proper place and the socket forming correctly! My wonderful sister put it so well - she said "Miracles happen every day, why not for YOU?" so we're going to try it :)
I'm vowing that from today on I'm going to be POSITIVE about this whole thing. I'm done with my pity party (and it was a good one!). I'm thinking good thoughts about her hip. If we all can think it back to where it's supposed to be, GREAT! If we still end up in a body cast - GREAT! We'll survive! So I'm asking everyone else to be positive with us if you can!
Okay. On to more news (it's been a rather wild week around here!). We accepted an offer on our house on Tuesday (yep, that would be the day before we found out about Violet's hip!). We still have to get through the inspection, but we're confident that things will go well. We have a close date of April 30... Colorado, HERE WE COME!!! (spica cast and all!).
And many thanks to our AMAZING REALTOR - my mom!! Regardless of the fact that she was overseas the entire 2 weeks our house was on the market, she was still there to answer our questions and give us the advice we needed as both her kids and her "clients" - thanks mom!!
Oh, did you still want to see some Violet pictures?? Here you go!
Sweetly sleeping (she NEVER sleeps on her back so I had a rare moment to get a picture of her face and not the back of her head while she slept!)
And some pictures of her in her Easter Dress. Let's just ignore the fact that it's 29 degrees here and 3 inches of snow on the ground (Ah, Michigan weather. We shall not miss you!)
I could NOT get her to smile while she had the Easter Basket! Ugh!
** Think Good Thoughts!***If you found this blog searching for info on spica casts,
please visit this wonderful and incredibly helpful forum:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hipbaby/
Also, please take a look at my Spica Cast Survival Guide, which you can download here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hipbaby/files/
It's the first thing on the list.
Sending lots of good hip healing vibes your way!!
4 comments:
I admire your strength and positive attitude. Your daughter is very lucky to have you being so strong.
Our five month old daughter is just about to get her third cast for hip dysplasia. We've survived nearly eight weeks of casts and although it isn't quite as bad as we'd feared we are really looking forward to getting through this.
You have our best wishes. It's worth it to see our little ones smile!
-Dave
Hi Jess,
I found out about Violet's need for surgery again via the hipbaby group! :( I was very sorry to hear about this news but I am so glad that you are thinking positively and I really do think you will do just fine. Preston will be getting his open reduction in May or June so looks like we will be joining you in the spica adventure! I wanted to say thank you for your "spical cast survival guide". I printed it yesterday and I am using it to prepare the things that Preston will need-it's been so helpful and I LOVE the pictures. Susan
You have a lovely daughter.
I know some of what you're going through. My son had to wear a hip spica cast for 7.5 wks when he was 3 yrs old, due to a fractured left femur. This was very difficult for us as he's a triplet, and we now had to give Akira extra care on top of looking after the other two.
You'll find my blog of our experience at this link:
http://tripletsdad.blogspot.com/2008/10/if-you-think-youre-busy-as-parent-of.html
Thanks for sharing about Violet. We are nervous parents who about to take our daughter to get checked, we fear that she may have hip dysplasia she is showing all the signs.
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