Patient Stories

Yana’s Story


We had an appointment to meet with a pediatric orthopedist to check on Yana’s hips since she was a breech baby she was at risk of having hip dysplasia. Where there is a problem with the formation of the hip joints. We had been told since she was born to keep an eye on this. She was checked at the hospital and the doctor’s office each time for the “tell tale” sign of a clicking noise in her hips. None of these things were ever a concern for our pediatrician.

He told us to get a routine ultrasound at 3 months to check the development and at that time they did notice that her left hip was not completely in place. He recommended we have a follow up ultrasound to recheck at 9 months.

Time flew by and she was a year already walking for over a month. We took her for the repeat ultrasound and the doctor called to say it was still out of place and she needed to see the orthopedist, which we scheduled immediately.

We meet the doctor and he asks us some questions. The first question was why we were going for ultrasounds and not x-rays? We said that is what our doctor recommended. He then went on to say this condition could not be diagnosed with ultrasound after 9 weeks of age. This is where my sense of panic started to kick in. He looked Yana over had her walk down the hall and assessed her gait. He said he doesn’t think she has it because she walks so well and then added but if she does it will be very bad considering her age. So he sends us into the x-ray room and we held her down for a few pictures.

He calls us out into the hall where he has her images on a large screen. In a sympathetic voice he says mom she has hip dysplasia. I looked at Anthony to see his concerned face on. As he goes over where her bones are and where they should be I feel myself welling up with tears. He said lets start the questions. We ask what now? And he says immediate surgery and a cast. I’m trying to hold it together but I can feel myself getting sick. I told Anthony I have to go to the bathroom and he tells me to sit I’m going to faint. I start shaking and sweating and gasping for air and they wheel me into another room and start putting cold packs on me. Meanwhile Anthony is holding a screaming Yana. After I get myself together the doctor comes back in and goes over all our questions and concerns.

Basically the first less invasive procedure is called a “closed reduction” which she will have to be put under anesthesia and injected with dye as he tries to get her hip as close to where it should be then she will be casted from her stomach to her toes and sent for an MRI to see if this is even an option. If it is she will come home with the cast and we will just keep checking the progress over a period of several months.

If after the MRI it looks like this is not an option that will work she will go back up to surgery have the cast removed and come home to recover and scheduled for an “open reduction” which involves major surgery.

This all happened Friday and her procedure is scheduled for this Thursday. As you can imagine Anthony and I are in complete shock and have been really just floating along these last couple days. I know this is something that HAS to be done. But so many things are weighing on me:

That this could have be diagnosed in infancy and easily fixed without surgery.

This was supposed to be our chance for girl time trips to the park and classes.

She’s worked so hard to catch up to Ethan to be able to walk and now be immobile from the waist down and what this will do to her mentally.

The thought of her being under anesthesia and having surgery is ridiculously scary. We are now almost a year and a half out from her first procedure and she is in her rhino at night only. We go back next month for XRAYS to see if there was enough growth-if not next step is major surgery.