In the days that followed Bailey's initial diagnosis, we were referred to an amazing doctor in the Houston, Texas Medical Center that had privileges at Texas Children's Hospital. (I haven't gotten his permission to use his name here.) We were told that Bailey would need to be put into
skin traction. The idea was to "lengthen" her leg so that the surgeon could perform a
closed reduction. It was actually a colossal waste of time and one of the most stressful weeks of our lives (mine and my husband's). Have you ever tried to make a 1 year old lay flat on their back with their legs in the air and weights on the bottom of a contraption? She kept flipping over, sitting up and just generally being an active 1 year old.
I was still trying to work a full-time corporate job so I would "sleep" at the hospital at night and work during the day while Daddy stayed with her. He would entertain her as best he could leaning over her crib, and they would let him take her in a wheel chair around the hospital for a couple of hours a day. (Prisoners get more "yard time".) He would push her around outside and they would watch the city buses whiz by...
I came back to the hospital from work one day and fell head over heels in love with my husband all over again. Here was this big, tough, gruff man leaning over the side of the crib with toys hanging off his ears and doing a cute little dance for Bailey...he was trying so hard to keep her flat on her back so that skin traction would work. It was the funniest and sweetest thing I have ever seen.
Finally the day came where we were set to do the closed reduction. Bailey came out of "surgery" in a hot pink body cast (
spica cast). The surgeon came into her room shortly thereafter to deliver the bad news...the closed reduction didn't work. We would be required to have an
open reduction. They removed the cast and we took Bailey home that night and were set to return in 3 days.
I was scared to death...I had read so much about these procedures and I was terrified. The surgeon kept mentioning
AVN. This is where the femoral head could lose blood supply and the bone could die...I couldn't think of anything worse.
Three days later we dutifully drove her to Texas Orthopedic Hospital and that is where we spent the next week or so. The timing of all of this is a little fuzzy to me, it was all quite a blur because the first 2 or 3 open reductions were unsuccessful. I remember after the most recent failure the surgeon entered the room, all the blood had drained from his face, you could tell he had bad news. (I think he was afraid my husband was going to knock him out.) With each failed procedure we grew more and more tiresome, desperate and weary.
After the third try, we were told that she was looking good. The days that followed, we stayed at Texas Orthopedic Hospital. The first day and half following surgery was a nightmare! Bailey was allergic to the morphine they had given her for pain and screamed and startled all night (startling is not good when your bones have just been cut). When the meds finally left her system, she laid in her little crib, with that hot pink spica cast (again) and whimpered and cried. I felt so horrible and guilty. (There is no specific reason or cause of the DDH but there are some contributing factors...one of them is swaddling a baby...which we did, A LOT!) One of the other contributors (I was told) is an increase in the hormone estrogen during pregnancy when you are carrying a female fetus. I had miscarried before Bailey and was threatening to miscarry with her so I received lots of additional estrogen.
After we were able to show the nurses that we could change her diaper with that cast on; and, we were able to show that she could eat solid foods we were finally able to take her home and that is where the real fun began...
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Bailey in one of her Spica Casts...
Her sweet spirit shines through! |
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