Patient Stories

Kaydence’s Story

Kaydence was born January 25th 2012. She was just beautiful. I had her by a schedule c-section and everything went great! Kaydence was a normal baby rolling, crawling, and walking around holding onto furniture just like any “normal” baby would. After her first birthday she started walking behind a push toy. That’s when daddy and I realized that something may be wrong with her foot.

When she would walk her right foot would drag a little behind causing her to fall. We made an appointment with her pediatrician who then sent us to the children’s orthopedic center. On May 6th 2013 we saw Dr.Riley at Akron Children’s Hospital who took x-rays of Kaydence’s legs after watching her walk. To our surprise he came back with the x rays to show us that BOTH of her hips were out of place. That was like a knife going through my heart. Tears started coming out before he could even get the words out. As he was talking all I could think in my head was “why my baby” … “how could this happen”… by the time I was done having a melt down he said that word “surgery” my heart sank!My 16 month old baby was going to go through surgery! (she just had ear tubes placed the month before!)

He scheduled us for May 17th. The plan was to go in and snip the tendons and have the hip fall back into place. Well of course it sounded so simple but that wasn’t the case. He got the left hip to go into place but had a hard time with the right. He put her in a Spica cast and scheduled a second surgery for her right hip on June 12th 2013.

He had to figure out a new plan for the right hip. After surgery on May 17th Kaydence was in total shock when she woke up and couldn’t move like she used to. This was the roughest night of my life. She was scared and honestly so was I. We ended up staying over night in the hospital that night due to us missing the therapy people for her car seat rental. This was the start to a long journey ahead.

Her second surgery was very successful! That was a relief. Now both hips are in place and healing. She will be the Spica cast for a total of at least 12 weeks the doctor said. She had a cast change on July 19th. This was so exciting to us because she was only going to have a half cast on her left leg. Finally I was able to rub and kiss my sweet girls little leg.

We are so close to her cast coming off on Aug 19th (4days)! Once her cast is off I’m understanding that she will be in Rhino Brace. This has been a long summer in a Spica cast but I must say Kaydence didn’t let it hold her down. She pulled herself around on the floor with her arms (army crawling). And she even tries to stand up holding onto the couch! She has taught me that a love for your child is unbreakable, its unexplainable. I spent many nights sitting on the floor watching her sleep in just pure amazement on how strong she is and how nothing can slow her down.

As a mom I was terrified. I’m assuming I will be worried day in and day out about her hips and having to go through any more surgeries with her in the future. If you are reading this because you just found out your child is having similar issues just know that there is an end to the cast. Eventually there will be an end to the brace and your child will amaze you with the amount of strength and patience they truly have.

Its not a easy road and its definitely not ideal. But really the diaper changes become a normal thing, to tuck a size 1 diaper inside the cast and place her normal size diaper on the outside. Making home made chairs and items she can fit in becomes a normal thing. Your life will shift and things will change, but what I learned is that your child does not change. Kaydence was very happy before the first surgery and still today she is just nothing but happy. You will have many nights as a mom/dad crying and praying for everything to be over but that’s just a normal thing for any parent! My number one advice is to let people help you. If you have parents that are willing to help you like I do. My parents have been extra amazing during all of this. Let them help. Aunts/uncles/nieces/nephews allow them to help you a little bit. I wish you nothing but Good Luck! 🙂