Cast Change Day

Addison went in for her first cast change yesterday and in some ways it was much less stressful than the original surgery day, and in some ways a little more stressful. First of all the appointment was very early in the morning as she was first on the OR slate, so we had to have her into the Stollery by 6 a.m. for a 7:20 a.m. surgery time. She did really well until around 6:30 when the hunger got the better of her. She hadn't eaten much since midnight, and she was wondering why we were holding out on her. She was also very tired which made the admission process a little tricky as they had to do some pre-surgery tests on her that she was not too fond of. After applying some numbing gel and wrapping her little hands in gauze, they led us to the waiting room where 2 surgeons, the resident and the anaestetist all came to chat with us pre-surgery. The first surgeon was doing a minor plastic surgery procedure to remove an extra bit of skin that Addison had on her right ear, he explained it would be simple and that he would apply steri strips over the dissolvable stitches and not to worry to much about it, that it wouldn't bother her at all. When we met with her orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Dulai, she explained that if her hips were not improving or were not in the socket when they cut the first cast off, that they would not be recasting her and that instead we would have to discuss the next, more invasive, steps towards correcting her hips. Her dad and I both knew that this meant more involved surgery and the possible breaking of her little bones, pinning of her hips and could even include traction of some kind so we were really hoping for a good outcome!

As the doctors were chatting with us, Addison gave into her tiredness and fell asleep in my arms, so she went into the OR blissfully unaware of where she was headed. After about an hour and a half they wheeled her back up to the hospital ward she would be staying in. As they brought her in her dad, grandma and I were anxiously searching for evidence of a cast, but she was covered in blankets so we couldn't tell. I asked the nurse if they reapplied the cast and she said yes. Such relief! We knew that this meant her hips were in place and must be getting better. She was pretty upset coming out of the OR. She had an upset tummy and was probably wondering where the heck she had woken up, and why she was in pain. After a half an hour of soothing and rocking, she calmed down enough to take a bottle. After that she returned to the happy little baby we know her to be. She was "chatting" away with her toys and giving smiles to everyone around her. Her grandma and grandpa spent the day in the hospital with us, and they were also very relieved at how well she was doing. She even settled down and had a good morning nap. The nurse let us know that the surgeon even felt that the surgery had gone so well that she wasn't concerned with doing an MRI following the procedure, another good sign! This means the chance of her hips slipping back out of joint had decreased enough not to have to go through that final check following cast application. Again...relief! Unlike the first stay in hospital, we were let out around 4 pm the same day, and went home to celebrate!

This morning we had a phone message from the surgeon who told us the surgery went great and that she was very pleased...and to come see her in 6 weeks for the next step. So...six more weeks in a spica seems much more doable now than it did 6 weeks ago. There seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel for Addison, and for us! She will need to go into a brace following the cast removal, but she is now that much closer to achieving healthy, normal hips and we are so thankful for that!