hip surgery for Carter

We got to Shriner’s early in the morning.

Carter loved the fish tank.

Carter tends to “stand” like this…with his left leg floating. He doesn’t use his left leg much, hopefully that will change.

He looked so cute getting his x-ray.

He wasn’t happy about the whole fasting thing- poor baby!

I’m going to miss seeing those legs!

He was pretty fascinated with the light on his toe.

While we waited 5 hours for Carter to get out of surgery…Laun and I ate breakfast in the cafeteria, it snowed, we watched a movie, played some ping-pong, I did my physical therapy and we had lunch in the cafeteria. It’s hard to have a little one in surgery, but at least Laun and I had each other.

The surgeon came out with some pretty rough and good news. First off, they had to cut the femur bone, so that it tilts in the correct position. She put in a plate and 4 screws which will be removed in around a year. She said the head of the bone was shaped awful and that there is no cartilage in the socket (that is worrisome). She had to put a pin in, it was the only way for her to get the hip to stay in the correct position. There is a problem with blood flow, which means the bone isn’t growing. The doctor had other fellow doctors  in there, since it was such an intense operation. She got pretty emotional as she talked with us. She said it’s the hardest surgery she’s ever done, worst hip she’s ever seen and that it made her sad to see a baby with a hip that bad. She also told us to try not to lose hope and that kids will surprise you, so there we have it, a lot to take in! The good news- she seems to have gotten the hip positioned how she wants.

So happy to finally see my sleeping guy.

body cast cuddle

Downing the yogurt, poor dude has got to be starving.

I like this spica cast better than his previous ones. The right leg only is casted down to his knee and both feet are totally exposed. The last casts went all the way down and all you could see were his toes sticking out. And best of all his legs aren’t positioned so extreme (which I think is because they could cut the bone and tilt it differently).

He fell asleep in my bed (instead of the crib), so I took the pull out chair. When you’ve had a day as crappy as his you can steal your mom’s bed.

Plus the pull out chair had a pretty sweet window view. Laun went back home so it’s just me and the boy tonight.