Aliyah's Hip Surgery

Today Aliyah is having her first orthopedic surgery due to cerebral palsy.  Although her brain injury at birth is not degenerative, the "misfiring" circuits in the brain cause abnormal muscle tone (tightness) which, with naturally occurring bone growth, can cause deformities of the bone and joint dislocations.  Children who are not mobile have an increased risk of hip dislocation.  In March, Aliyah's orthopedic doctor took an x-ray of her spine to evaluate minor scoliosis that has shown up.  Thankfully, her spine remained the same over a 6-month period of time, but the x-ray also caught an image of her hips.  Her left hip socket is extremely shallow and the upper part of her femur is deformed and not seated in the socket.  Two of her specialists said that it was critical to treat this aggressively before complete dislocation occurs, which causes chronic arthritis and pain.  At the time of the x-ray, she was experiencing no pain.  During the past month, I have noticed increased discomfort.  At times, she can't tolerate laying on her left side and has painful tightness and muscle spasms requiring Valium for sleep.  Today she is having a Pelvic Osteotomy, Femur Osteotomy, and muscle lengthening in 3 tendons.  They are cutting a wedge-shaped piece out of her femur, upper leg bone, so it can be bent down into the socket.  It will be held together with a metal L-shaped plate and two screws.  :-(  They are going to grind down the socket to deepen it, hinge a piece of her pelvic bone over the head of the femur, and will add the wedge of femur-bone to the top of the socket to enlargen it.  The tendons on the inside of both her left and right legs, adductors, will be lengthened, as well as the tendon in front of her left hip.  This will help to prevent the femur from being pulled out of socket again.  Aliyah will be in a spica cast that holds her in a reclined/split position from under the arms down to her ankle on the left side, and down to her knee on the right.  We expect to stay in the hospital two nights; the spica cast will stay on for 6 weeks.

Our sweet muffin sleeping so peacefully at 5am.  Time to go to the hospital!