Not So Great

Well, her femur isn't in her hip the way it is supposed to be. The doctor couldn't get a really clear look at it, but he's 95% sure it's out of place. He very nearly decided to go ahead and fix it right there, to save having to go back, but that would have necessitated putting her in a spica cast without us having a chance to prepare for it. Plus, since this is apparently the first time he has had one of these procedures fail, he wanted to take some time to review what might have gone wrong, lest the next time we go in it fails again. So they took out the metal and sewed her up, and we'll get a CAT scan within the week to confirm it is out. We are then going to attempt to take her to an arthrogryposis clinic, either in Delaware or in Seattle, where she can be evaluated by people who do little but see kids like her all day. Her surgeon will discuss their opinions with them then, because he is hesitant to even redo the work if he can't be sure it won't come out again. Which would mean a permanently dislocated hip, which would mean an even-more-screwed up gait and possibly other complications as she grew. On the other hand, there isn't any point in going through such major surgery if it isn't going to actually fix anything.

Not what we hoped for, but she's doing all right and looks like she can come home today. Without a body cast. Whew.