The Berg Family Est. 2010: Closed Reduction Failed

We are home, cast free for now. It has been quite the day...

Last night:

I cried giving her a bath since I didn't think she'd have one for a few months. It was 83 degrees in our AC free house so she slept in our room, where we have a window AC unit, in her old rock and play. I prayed that either both hips would go in OR neither would go in, because if only 1 went in her over all time in the cast would be 5 months which, as I've said before, gives more opportunity for avascular necrosis which is when the hip bone dies and there is permanent damage. Well, God must have gotten a little confused and thought I said both hips in AND both hips out.

Today:

The alarm went off at 4:45 and we got ready to go for our 6 am arrival. They took us back and got Rilynn prepped. A family friend, who is the VP of finance for the foundation at Doernbecher, pulled some strings and had the chief of anesthesia as well as another orthopedic surgeon come by and check in with us which was helpful to put our minds at ease. When it was time to say good bye at the kissing corner, I fell apart. I hated saying good bye knowing that when I saw her again everything would be different. Rilynn was given a number so we could track her location while we were in the waiting room. We were told to expect at least an hour and a half and they would call after an hour, so that I would feel better knowing what was happening. Travis and I settled into the waiting room where we watched Toy Story with other waiting families. After about 40 minutes I noticed Ri's number had changed colors meaning they were about done. Soon after the surgeon came out to tell us the good news that he got both hips in, everything felt great and she had a pink cast. He ordered an MRI to double check but we could go back to wait with her as she woke up. She was fussy waking up and her voice was raspy from the air tube during the procedure. She wasn't too thrilled when she woke up and realized she couldn't move her legs and she was hungry. She had some sugar water and baby Tylenol and then she nursed after a bit. We learned how to change her diaper and hold her. She cried a lot, I cried a lot, and Travis comforted us both. Our emotions were up and down, but we were excited and hopeful. Everyone said how great the procedure went. When we went down to the MRI, I went in the room with her and we both wore ear plugs. They prepared me for a lot of crying because of the noise, but I held her hand and she slept through almost all of it and they were shocked (have I mentioned how awesome our kid is). They checked with the radiologist when they were done and ended up needing more images. That's when worry started to come to the back of my mind that something might not be right. When we got back to our recovery "booth" area I started feeling more positive and we felt like the cast was do able. Our friend Dr. Nicoli (you're welcome Daniel) was able to come see us and that's when Dr. Renwick came back with the MRI results that both hips were back out. It was so disappointing. He immediately got going to remove the cast. He told us that the bilateral part is what makes things more tricky and more unusual. After today, he has moved up on my scale of doctor quality. He was informative, quick, and empathetic which goes a long way with me. There's nothing more annoying to me than people who act like this isn't a big deal. We know how fortunate we are that she is otherwise healthy, but it doesn't make this less difficult. Again, we were told she might cry taking off the cast because it takes a bit of time and the saw makes a lot of noise, but our little tough girl didn't mind a bit. We finally got to go home and were all exhausted by the end of the day. When we got home the 3 of us took a long nap together and when Rilynn woke up she seemed back to normal self. It felt so good the snuggle with my family and know that the 3 of us are in this together. She is doing amazing! Every time they told me she would cry today, she stayed strong and wowed everyone.

So now what? Our new plan is to have two open reductions later this month. Again, she will be put under and they will make incisions in her legs to clear out any tissue blocking the hips from going into the socket. We will do the first hip later this month, put the cast on, and then do the second hip 2 weeks later. She will be in the cast a total of 10 weeks. Of course, I wish we were already on the path to recovery and that we would have been successful with the less invasive procedure today, however we do see some positives and trust that this was God's plan. We are excited that instead of 12-18 weeks in a cast it will only be 10 weeks. We are also so thankful that our doctor chose to get an MRI today, not 6 weeks from now, to check that her hips had stayed in place after the cast was put on and that they found out after only 4 hours in the cast that it failed. This next procedure has a higher success rate, so that has helped put us at ease as well. Now that we had our trail run today, we know what the expect. Although we wish we didn't have 2 more surgeries (fingers crossed only 2) ahead of us, we will go in more prepared for what to expect. Thank you for all of your prayers, thoughts, finger crossing, or voodoo dances. Everyone's messages and phone calls mean so much to us. We have such a wonderful family and group of friends.

Pictures from yesterday: