Anna Update

Due to Celie having the issue with her hip, we have been monitoring Anna's hips since she was born. At 2 weeks, she had an ultrasound to look at the hips. They were good. We were then given an order to have x-rays between 6-9 months. So, on May 5th, when we took Celie in, we decided to have Anna x-rayed at that time too.

The x-ray was read by a radiologist and the results phoned to our pediatrician. She called us with the news. Anna has shallow hips. She wanted us to go see the Surgeon. I took Anna on June 1st. The x-rays, again, explain it all. Her hips are not in the right quadrant that they need to be in. They are NOT dislocated like Celie's was, but BOTH hips are out of place. Her hip pockets are shallow. What does that really mean? Well, if you think of your hip sockets as C's, there is a deep spot for the ball joint to fit in and not pop out because the tails of the C will catch it. However, Anna's hip pockets look more like ) a little more open and the ball joint has the potential to slip out of place. They do not know the cause for such a thing, but there are some things that we can do to fix it.

We could have Anna in a brace at night for many months to avoid any kind of surgery. However, my research on the net about the braces is that they do not work and then kids still need surgery and it just prolongs the inevitable.

The second option, is called a closed reduction. This is where they inject dye into the socket to make sure there are no obstructions, they then push the ball further in the socket and then put a cast on the patient. The cast needs to be on for 3 months, with a change in the cast after 6 weeks. This is the option that we are going for because Anna will not have to be cut and since she is so young, there is a possibility that this will allow her hips to form nicely around the ball without a future surgery in sight. HOWEVER, we are coming to a possible scheduling conflict. I am working with the scheduler at the Dr's office to make sure that we get in before we leave. We are cutting it very close. I have to call tomorrow to confirm a possible June 25th date. If it is past that week - we might have to seek alternatives because of our move date. So, this is the procedure we would prefer to do now, so that we do not have to do an open surgery later, but timing is critical and we hope that we can do it.

More on this when we know exactly what we are going to do.