Hip Surgery

Varus derotational osteotomy (VDRO) with open hip reduction for hip subluxation or, as I call it, hip surgery. That's what was recommended to us when it was discovered that Chloe's hip was out of socket in October. I was told recovery can be rough for anyone, but especially fragile kiddos like Chloe. A lot of kids don't seem to have pain associated with a dislocated hip (which is astonishing to me). Well, Chloe did not fall into that category. She definitely had pain, sometimes excruciating and unbearable pain, because of this. Since I consider that unacceptable, we opted to go forward with the surgery. I cannot explain the turmoil I had over this and it did not help how utterly happy Chloe was the morning I took her in for surgery. I knew she was going in to surgery happy as ever and that she would definitely NOT be happy after surgery and didn't know how long it would be until she was happy again. It was heart wrenching! But I did it. Here is the journey.

Here she is the morning of the surgery. Sooo happy!
She made the sweetest friend in the waiting room.
Her friend was having bilateral exotropia surgery.
Her parents were a nervous wreck and I was glad to tell
them Chloe has had that surgery twice and that the recovery
was quick and relatively painless. Love tender mercies like that!

12/10/14 Facebook status:
The surgery went well. Chloe is still really out of it,
but seems well when she does wake up.
I even got a smile out of her when she heard Christmas music,
saw the Christmas storybooks, saw that I had decorated her room,
and made Olaf sing the summer song. I'm afraid her overall recovery
is going to be difficult, but if in the end she has pain relief, goal achieved!
Thank you all for your love and support, especially Team Sam (Nana & Grammy)
who step up to take care of him when Oby is at work and Chloe needs me.

Jazz players Trey Burke & Gordon Hayward along with Jazz dancer, Angie
stopped in to see Chloe. Hospital stays have their occasional perks ;)
Thank you, Utah Jazz!

Chloe had been screaming hysterically about one minute
before the Jazz players and Jazz Bear stopped by.
The timing was a bit magical, if you want to know the truth.
So glad it worked out because it sure made Chloe's day!
She was absolutely in love with Jazz Bear!
He gave her an autographed ball and poster.
They added to the room décor for our stay. :)

The hardest part about Chloe's surgery was seeing her in so much pain.
The second hardest part was being away from Sam and Oby.
Our parents, as always, helped out with Sam when Oby was at work
so I knew he was in good hands. Facetime helped and Oby brought
Sam up to visit a couple times. He is such a trooper and I have
come to believe that these experiences are developing Sam's
character in ways I can't even imagine. So even though it's hard,
I'm sure grateful. I believe this is the plan for us and there must be
reasons beyond which I could imagine that will all make sense
in the end so I'll just be grateful along the way. Mostly because it makes me happier.

Enough said.

I have some crying pix of Chloe during her recovery,
but I can't bare to show them. It is just too sad.
I will, however, show this picture showing the rash
she got around her eyes from crying so hard so often.
It was rough on me and I can only imagine how rough
it was on her to be in so much pain for so long.
She needed to be held basically all the time, day and night,
so Sam spent many more nights with Grammy and Nana
for a few weeks. I was so grateful for the help.

Sometimes, not often, but sometimes she was super happy.
It was usually in the middle of the night/wee hours of the morning, but hey,
I'll take it. It's always good to see this sweet smile, whenever that may be.

Here she is at her one-month follow-up appointment.
My Facebook post that day (1/12/15): We are at Chloe's hip surgery follow-up.
This is the happiest she's been (without narcotics) in weeks if not months!
Hoping we've turned a corner toward real recovery!
Does my heart good to see this sincere smile.

So it's only been a few days since that follow-up visit. It was just that morning when Oby and I noticed a big change. And we've been using fewer meds and seeing more smiles. She still has quite a bit of pain on occasion, but it is less frequent and easier to manage so I feel like we have turned that corner. She is starting PT next week and has an intensive PT session scheduled in two months. This means we are looking forward and hoping for PROGRESS. I will never, ever stop hoping. Though I can hardly say this is completely behind us at this point, I will say I feel like it was the right decision for Chloe and I'm glad it's done. It was not easy, but I think it will be worth it.