A Sad Update

So we are very behind on our blogging but we figured this would be the best way to inform everyone of some recent developments in our lives.

Here is the update. Mackenzie has been diagnosed with hip dysplasia. This diagnosis is normally caught much, much earlier (usually during the first few weekly appointments). That is another issue. At her 4 month appointment, we pointed out changes with Mackenzie's fat rolls and also her dislike of jumping on her left leg. The doctor felt that she just favored that side. At 6 months, we pointed out again. I forced an X-ray because something was just not right. Needless to say, her left hip was dislocated.

So what does this mean?
Well in non-medical terms, her left hip is dislocated or not in the socket. It needs to placed back in the socket or she will have a whole heap of problems: different length legs, potentially not walking, walking with a limp, or early hip replacement. We do not think it hurts her at this point because babies do not have full bone formation. She does not currently have bone-on-bone rubbing.

What is next?
We met with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon on Friday, January 14th. She has decided that she would like to do an arthogram under general anesthesia. They will put her to sleep, then they will inject dye into her joint to see how far the femoral head is out of the socket. If it is not far from the socket, they will move the hip as close to the correct position as they can and then they will cast the leg in the frog position (knees up and out) for 4 weeks. This will promote the hip to heal on its own. If the femoral head is far from the socket they will do the same process, but we will go back in just 3 weeks for a checkup. If there is positive progress, they will recast at that point and continue treatment. If there is not improvement, they will potentially have to do surgery to loosen ligements and deepen the socket to get the bones in the correct place. After surgery, they would also cast her legs in the frog position. We are praying that they find out that her femoral head is in a good place and she will only be in the cast (and no surgery will be required). Either way, she will have a cast for 3 or 4 months, so our happy baby may become an irritable and cranky baby. If that happens, can you blame her? The casting is probably going to be worse on us than it will be on her. She will have a cast from her chest down to her ankles, with a hole in her crotch area. The cast will be big and her frog position will limit how much she can sit, move, and fit into car seats/high chairs/shopping carts/etc. Let's just pray that the casting will work to fix it and she will not need surgery.

The good news is that this problem is fixable. The doctor told us that once the hip is correctly in place, there is only a 5% chance that she will experience some type of residual issues from the dysplasia. We are hoping that the treatment for the next several months will allow her to have completely healthy hips.

We are trying to anticipate all the changes that may be coming as we move forward. For instance, we bought some new clothes that will fit over her cast, we are looking into buying her big girl car seats earlier than we anticipated, and we are looking to get bean bag chairs so she can sit at our house and at Grandma's. We have also tried to figure out how diaper changes, trips to restaurants, or trips to the grocery store will work. The next 3 to 4 months could be pretty rough for us. Just thought we would give you all an update. We will try to let know when things are scheduled. Please keep us in your prayers.

Sarah (and Mike)