One Year Cast Free

I can't believe the one year anniversary of being cast free has passed and I totally forgot about it.  In fact, I had to look back through the blog to see what date it even came off.  Honestly, the cast and Hip Dysplasia in general have been the furthest things from our minds.  Mackenzie is walking and running and jumping and climbing and has totally caught up with other kids her age in terms of her gross motor skills.  I talked to our pediatrician and she told us that there is no way for the hip bones to "regress" back once they are proper position.  Every once in awhile this summer we would stop and say "remember last summer when she was in the cast", but it, and hip dysplasia, are now thankfully a distant memory.

New Runner brand glider bike

Another Great Resource

Check out this website: http://www.hopethehiphippo.com

Lots of information for you whether you are starting your DDH journey or in the middle of it already.

The book is great for older children to help explain to them what is happening and what will be happening to them along their journey if surgery and a spica cast is in their future.   I purchased a copy for Mackenzie to hopefully read with her when she gets older so she can understand why she is in that "crazy cast" in her baby pictures.

WE HAVE NORMAL HIPS!!!!

I figured that required shouting!

I can't believe it took me so long to get this on the blog.  More important things I suppose, like running, jumping and spending as much time outside as possible, took priority.

Playing with her favorite new toy - the water table!

We had an appointment with our surgeon on April 23rd (I am going to back-date this post for record keeping purposes).  I was a little bit nervous going in because we had always been told that we need to see continued improvement each time.  If her hips stop improving then we would be looking at an Osteotomy when she was 3 or 4, which is a surgery to cut and change the shape of the bone that makes up the hip joint.

As per usually Mackenzie freaked out when we went into the x-ray room.  They usually only allow one parent in but we asked if we could both go since we knew she would not be happy.  It took both of us holding her down to get the picture.  I hate that part so much.

Then, back to the waiting room until we get called in to see the doctor.

We got the absolute best news we could have gotten.  Her hips are in the normal range!  The doctor said as far as she is concerned her hips are both normal (the left was the one affected).  She should have no future issues except for a slight increased risk of early arthritis but that is a long ways down the road.  We also never have to go back!  Woohoo!

Needless to say we are over the moon.  From my readings and participation on the Facebook and Yahoo groups DDH forums it is not very common that a child would be done treatment after "just" a reduction, usually they go on to need surgery.

Of course now I have millions of questions like: can the hip regress, what do we do if we notice weird things like limping, etc.  But I guess we will cross those bridges when we get there.

 We are excited for a "normal" summer with splash parks, the beach, bouncy castles, cute summer clothes (I may have gone a bit overboard after our endless onesies last summer) and just enjoying life.

Thanks so much to everyone for all of your continued support.  I will try to "check in" on here every so often, but as with lately, I likely wont post very frequently.

Looking Back

Sorry for the lack of post updates, but we haven't had much new to report.  Mackenzie is walking/running around all over the place these days.  She still has a bit of a widened stance when she walks, but it has definitely narrowed. She still wears her brace for napping and at night.  We go back for another x-ray and check up in about 2 weeks and are hoping we can ditch the brace for good.

I was looking through some old photos yesterday and it is amazing how much she was able to do while in the cast.  Even now, she walks around with it on when we have it on her before or just after sleeping.  She always stands up in her crib now too when she wakes up and wants out.  She's quite a climber, so I am happy for the brace in the sense that it prevents her from climbing out of her crib!

I am trying to get a video of her running, but it seems like whenever the camera comes out she just wants to touch it.  I will definitely update after our next appointment.

Here are some photos from the past 6 months or so:

From October - the Brace doesn't stop me from crawling through my tunnel!

From October - I can just about reach it

From December - playing in a bucket

From December - tobogganing at the babysitters is so much fun!

From December - She loves doing this, so funny!

From January - a Winter walk

Merry Christmas

I know I haven't been updating much lately, but there isn't really much to say.  We got a great Christmas present on Christmas Day this is what Mackenzie started doing on a more regular basis!

She walks off and on now.  She seems to prefer to walk if it is on carpet and our main floor of our house is all hardwood flooring.  Sometimes she will take up to 20 steps across the room.  She has learned that she can't really carry things around with her when she is crawling so she has been shuffling around on her knees, pretty cute.  Upstairs she still loves to use the push toy from the earlier video I posted.  She pretty much runs around with that thing and can steer it all over.  She loves to do laps around the Island in our kitchen and have someone chase her.  I love that she is just doing all these "regular kid" kind of things.

Her walking stance is definitely wider than a "normal" kid.  She looks like she's been riding a horse for a long time.  We are hoping that with time her stance narrows, if not, we may go back to Physio and see if they have any ideas.  For now we are just so happy that she is continuing to progress!

Another Check-up Appointment

Even though I always feel very nervous every time we go for a check up, this one was pretty uneventful.  We know the drill by now.  Show up, sit in the waiting room for a bit, go back and get an x-ray (it is an unspoken agreement now that Brice always takes her because he's stronger to hold her legs in place, and I just hate seeing her cry).  Then go back to the waiting room for a bit.  Get called in to the exam room and wait some more.  Resident comes in and asks a bunch of questions that should be in the chart.  Wait some more.  Doctor comes in and tries to get out the door in as little time as possible.

In all seriousness, this appointment went well.  Apparently Mackenzie's hip is still developing, but the angles aren't quite where they'd like them to be.  She will continue to wear the brace when she sleeps - naps and at night - and we go back again in 3-4 months for another x-ray and check-up.  The resident this time was quite informative and explained things really well to us.  However at this point I feel like we almost know as much as them with all the research we have done.

She completely freaks out whenever anyone tries to touch her.  When the resident was trying to examine her she arched her back and was crying so hard and trying to get away.  When the doctor came in he told Brice to just hold her on his lap, but she still cried and tried to get away.  It was kind of cute when she covered her eyes with her hands like that would make him go away.

Because things are continuing to improve we will just continue to wait and see.  The brace wearing is just to help hold her hips in the optimal position for growth.  If, and it's a big if, her hip isn't where they want it to be by the time she is about 4 or 5 then we will be looking at surgery.  The doctor still thinks that is not likely.

As far as the walking, not much of an update.  She will take the odd unassisted step here and there but generally just drops down to her knees to crawl.  She likes to kind of crawl/shuffle sitting up on her knees which is pretty funny to watch.  She is an expert at cruising around with her walking toy.  I'll try to get a video one of these days.  She can steer it and everything and will often times grab it and steer it around to walk to where she is trying to go.

We have Steps!

Mackenzie has started taking her first steps!  She has been cruising around with her walking toy and all along the furniture, but she took her first solo steps on Thursday evening.  She is very wobbly and only takes a couple at a time before dropping back down and crawling the rest of the way.  We are so excited and proud.

We go for another check up with the Orthopedic surgeon on December 18th so we will keep you all posted on how that goes.  She is still wearing her brace at night and for naps.