Surgery Part 1

Whew!  We are home and while I intended to post on the blog while in Chicago, Shriner's did not have wifi. I could have left Jordy to use one of their laptops but I elected not to do so.

We left Tuesday bound for Chicago to spend some time chilling before checking in for surgery Wednesday morning.  On our way, we stopped at the Albanese Candy Factory in Hobart.  While looking at the candy and taking the "tour" was fun, the true highlight for Jordy was playing in the snow outside of the store.  He actually calls it snowman and in spite of my effort to show him the difference between snow and snowmen, it hasn't quite clicked yet.  The important thing is he loves snow aka snowman.  Cold doesn't bother him. We then drove to the hotel.  Our local Shriner's were kind enough to put us up in the Hampton Inn which has an indoor pool.  We then headed to Giordano's for some pizza pie and then settled back in at the hotel for some swim time and then an antibacterial bath before hitting the bed.

On the way, we drove through some white fluffy stuff.

By the time we actually hit Chicago, it looked clear and sunny.

Our pit stop in Hobart playing in the "snowman."

One last swim before being casted for several months.

Jordy picked his bed for the night and settled right in to watch cartoons.

What to do while waiting for pizza?  Make faces and take pictures!

Waking up Wednesday morning was quite easy as I wasn't able to fall asleep to begin with and Jordy was up at 6am, our time, on his own.  I think in some ways, he was in anticipation of the surgery but he also heard me up.  We headed out at a decent time as eating wasn't an option for Jordy so mamma decided to wait until surgery began.  We checked in for surgery and Jordy was in the best of spirits.  He was being his silly self and all the nurses and staff fell in love with him quickly.  Jordy was able to pick his cast color from blue, neon green, neon pink, or purple.  He chose purple.  It suits him well, too.

More faces while waiting in pre-op!

Surgery started at around 9:30am EST.  I was to report back to the surgical waiting area at designated times every two hours to hear reports on how the surgery was progressing but was encouraged to walk around, eat, and find other areas to rest and wait.  They showed me to Jordy's inpatient room and encouraged me to use his room during the surgery as I wanted.  I did head to breakfast as soon as Jordy went into surgery. My mom and several others asked me if I was nervous or stressed.  Truthfully, no.  While I did not want to put Jordy through the pain and suffering of surgery, having surgery is the only way Jordy will ever have the chance of walking.  We are not going to deny him that chance.  We know God is in control and with trusting in God comes peace.  My choices were: sit and worry myself sick or choose to leave Jordy in the hands of God and the doctors which I did.  First report was at 11am EST and the nurse indicated that the doctor would only be repairing one hip instead of both because it was more difficult than he originally hoped.  The second call came at 1pm EST and the nurse said that the femur was a challenge and the doctor was just beginning to work on the hip joint.  At 3pm EST, the nurse said the doctor was close to finishing and would be suturing soon and doing the spica cast.  At about 4:30pm EST, the doctor came out and called me back to look at some x-rays.  He said it was a tough job but the warmth and hope in his voice gave me such peace.  The x-rays were an incredible sight to see.  I wish I could show you the before and after pictures but you are just going to have to vision it from my description.

Post-op

Jordy's original diagnosis is left hip dysplasia and dislocation with arthrogryposis.  The doctor's did an open hip reduction with femoral osteotomy, acetabuloplasty, and adductor tenotomy.  I'm sure you all understand exactly what the doctors did and no further explanation is necessary at this point.  To be honest, they asked me to sign a paper prior to surgery indicating that I understood that these procedures were going to be done on Jordy and I looked at them and said I would sign but I didn't and couldn't truly understand.  Okay, maybe I had a clue but a complete understanding?  Not even close.  I signed because while I don't understand the technical terms, I know that we all understand the ultimate goal for Jordy is walking.

What I do understand is that Jordy's hip socket was deformed and so was the femoral head which is the top of the femur bone that is supposed to slip into the hip socket.  From birth, Jordy's left hip has been dislocated.  For four years, he has maneuvered around with a completely dislocated hip joint.  As a result, the femoral head has developed incorrectly because it has never had to work properly and has thus taken on different characteristics.  The doctor indicated that the top of the bone was rough and jagged as opposed to smooth and rounded.  Also, it has been noted that it is likely that Jordy has a leg length difference so it was decided to cut a piece of his femur out in order to reshape the hip socket.  In this way, they could correct two issues at once.  Where they cut the bone out, there is now a plate and screws.  The doctor did not put the bone back together.  Rather, he left space between for the bone to grow back together.  Last, I understand they also had to cut tendon around the hip joint.

So, as I looked at the x-ray what I could visibly see was a plate and screws with a space between them. Then at the hip joint the piece of bone removed was divided into two separate pieces and was used to help repair the hip socket.  You could clearly see these on the x-ray.  The bone will hopefully graft naturally to the existing bone and no artificial parts will hopefully ever be needed.  Jordy will remain in the spica cast for no less than seven weeks.  He will then be re-casted in a different cast for a bit longer.  This will put us at the beginning of next year before he will be without a cast of any kind.