Latest on Rilynn's Hips

We've enjoyed our out of sight out of mind stage with Rilynn's hips, but we are getting closer to that next set of surgeries. Today I met with Dr. Roy at Shriner's. Travis wanted to come, but since he just started at his new job, I had to go alone. Dr. Roy is one of the 4 surgeons we have seen and probably the surgeon who will operate on Rilynn next. It was very informative, but hard to hear. I was pleased with myself for not completely breaking down in front of him, especially since in the back of my mind I was reminding myself that this isn't that bad, our child is alive, walking around, and has a bright future ahead of her. Many of the other parents I saw in the waiting room couldn't say all that about their children.  We got an updated X-ray that I have posted below. It showed that Rilynn's right femoral head has developed faster than her left and that she has almost no sockets on either side. Her hips are dislocated high meaning even if there were sockets to go into? It would be challenging to get them to stay in them with how high her dislocation is. So the plan... We will schedule her right hip for beginning of September. She will have an open reduction again, a femoral osteotomy to shorten the femoral head, and a pelvic osteotomy to deepen/create her socket in hopes that it gets the message that it needs to grow into a cup shape on its own. Best case scenario we do 6 weeks of the cast followed by some bracing before doing it all over on the left side with 6 weeks of casting followed by bracing. Worst case, each set of casting lasts 8 or more weeks. That was the first big pill to swallow. He said if it was possible to do both sides at the same time without disrupting the first side while working on the second he will do it, but it is a game time decision and not to get my hopes up. Last we discussed AVN, the loss of blood supply to the femur head due to the amount of time in 1 position, is over a 50% chance. This just means the possibility of more surgery in her future and possible side effects such as a limp. Second hard pill to swallow. We just got Rilynn walking independently and the look of pride on her face melts our hearts, so the thought of taking that away from her, even for a few months, is heartbreaking. But it has to be done and luckily not over the summer this time. 

Here is Rilynn's current X-ray 

Here is what they should look like

On the bright side, her feet will probably be casted this time too, so they will be still enough to do a pedicure! 

So those of you wondering when baby #2 is coming, out of fear this will happen again (now that we had 1 with hip dysplasia, the odds go up with siblings), I feel like saying never, but in reality we are not even thinking about another one until Rilynn is cast free and done with surgeries. 

We still have a few months cast free and plan to enjoy every second of it!