Journey to Another World: Surgery 2 of 4 Scheduled

Sooooooooooo, we had our most recent visit at Shriner's this last Thursday to pick up Jordy's hip abductor brace. I couldn't have been more surprised at the change of events. I LOVE our physician, Dr. Altiok. In his words, "I'm a little neurotic." Not in a bad way. He just has a tendency to change his mind and change his mind, he did. After much discussion with one of the intern physicians, Dr. Altiok shared that he was ready to schedule Jordy for his next surgery. I wasn't prepared for him to say that because on our previous visit, he was pretty adamant that he wanted to wait. But wait, we will not. Jordy is scheduled to have another major surgery at the end of March. This next surgery is going to be done with the purpose of straightening his right leg. The chosen method is an external fixator. I will have to post a picture because there is no good way to describe an external fixator without a picture unless you've had experience with one before. Also during this surgery, they will remove the plate and pins that were placed in his left leg when they removed the bone during his first hip surgery.

BEFORE YOU READ ANY FURTHER: Do not read this next paragraph if you have a weak stomach. Skip to the next paragraph. You have been warned!

This is not the exact device that they are using but you get the idea of what we are in for. The fixator will be attached to his upper leg, at the knee, and on his lower leg. There will be a bar on the back of his leg connecting the top of his leg to his lower leg and a crank device will be attached to this bar. On regular intervals, we will crank the device and it will stretch his leg outward. The fixator is fixed by metal pins screwed into his bones. Each metal pin has to be cleaned and rinsed twice daily with q-tips, antiseptic, and sterile water for at least 10-14 days and we have to make sure that his skin does not graft to the metal by pulling it away from the pins while we clean the pins. The doctor almost guaranteed that we will encounter an infection at one of the pin sites. Not terribly hard to believe given the number of pins and the extent to which they must be maintained.

After the initial 10-14 days post surgery, Jordy will be allowed to have a shower but he will not be able to be submerged in water until the device comes off. He can, however, play in a chlorine pool. Good news there for us! If he is still in the device by summer, this will be our saving grace.

Prayer warriors, please lift Jordy up. We have told him about the surgery and shared pictures with him and it is no surprise that he does not want to do it. The good news is though, he will still be able to be very mobile. In fact, he won't be able to crawl anymore and will have to use his walker at all times. He's getting really strong which hopefully will help because the device will add extra weight.

I have no idea how long the straightening process will take. I sort of didn't want to know and didn't ask. I'll find out when we go for the surgery. Once the leg is straight, they will do another surgery to remove the device. It sounded as though they are going to cast his right leg for a short period post surgery so that they can hold it in place. Then he will have his fourth surgery to fix his right hip when they take him out of the cast. The next months are going to be busy busy busy. We will have frequent visits to Chicago to make adjustments to the fixator, probably every two or three weeks.

Cheese!!!

The new fancy hip abductor brace. This helps him walk and sit with his hip joint forced into the hip socket with more pressure and it provides protection.