Have you ever wondered why I named my business Hip Violet? There is actually a story behind it!
When my oldest daughter Violet was 6 months old as we went to her well-child visit, the doctor did the “butterfly” of her legs to check her hips and CLUNK, her hip went right out of the socket (and the doctor’s face turned WHITE!). That was just the start – we went for an x-ray and soon she was in her first hip spica cast.
First Spica Cast after a closed reduction
7-9 months
Cutie pie in a body cast! My husband called it her “hard candy shell”
Cast tricks with Daddy!
That one was from 7-9 months old, and then she was out for about 3 months. When we went back for her 3-month post-cast checkup, they found that her hip had dislocated again. Next she had an open reduction (surgery, as opposed to a closed reduction the first time where they just manipulated her hip back into place) and was again in a cast from 14-17 months old.
2nd Cast – this time we got to have part of her good leg out! 14-17 months
Crawling in her cast – she had the STRONGEST stomach muscles when she was done! She also could stand up in this cast.
It was during this second trip in the spica cast that I started making baby bibs. I had ordered some bibs from a friend of mine and they were HUGE – I loved them because they really covered her and her cast up. When I wanted to order more she was no longer making them, and since I did know how to sew a little bit, I decided to give it a try. I made myself a pattern for a huge bib, and the rest is history!
The very first Hip Violet bibs!
Every year since we’ve had an x-ray to see how her hip was growing. Unfortunately her socket was remaining pretty flat instead of forming a nice round socket. Even though Violet, who is now 7, was not in any pain or had any outward signs of an issue (besides the fact that her right leg was 1″ longer than her left!) we decided to go ahead with a pelvic osteotomy on February 7th. This is where they do a bone graft into her pelvic bone to make her a rounder socket that will not slip out. And it comes with another 6-week stay in a spica (body) cast. It’s pretty different than when she was a baby!
At the hospital the day after surgery
Getting the hang of the wheelchair so she can do her favorite – crafts!
She is so happy she can still wear her dresses – and I stocked up on knee socks!
We are slowly but surely getting the hang of it this time around – she is obviously much heavier than when she was a baby so lifting her is a challenge. But over the last 2 weeks we’ve figured out the potty, wheelchair, eating, sleeping, and she’ll start back at school on Monday for half-days.
Bathtime! Washing her hair in the sink. I thought she would love having a “spa day” but instead she was terrified i was going to get water in her eyes!
Playing on her tummy with her little sister
So that’s the story of Hip Violet!
**** UPDATE April, 2018 ****
I LOVE that so many parents facing an older kiddo in a spica cast are still finding this blog post useful! I’m getting a few e-mails every month or so asking how we handled certain parts of surgery/casting so I thought I’d add in some tips that might come in handy.
- Bathroom issues are one of the biggest hurdles with older kids. Diapers were EASY! I wish we would have told V that she would be using a pull-up tucked inside her cast opening for the first few days. They are in a lot of pain and having to pick them up and take them to the bathroom is WAY WAY harder and more painful than we were anticipating. If we could have just tucked a pull-up up in there, all would have been well, but she refused. Boo!We used a bedside commode like this for the first few days at home: commodeWe took the back off of it and sat it right by our couch. Once her pain was more under control, we found out that our regular toilet worked out just fine (although a bit awkwardly) and gave her some privacy.
** I bought some large size women’s underwear and cut each side off and put snaps on (you could do velcro!) so she could still have underwear. It’s the little things!
2. Get a Rx for Zofran. V had a reaction to the anesthesia and was really sick the day we got home. Vomiting in a body cast is about the WORST and we had to jump through a lot of hoops to get the prescription. She has had several other surgeries and we make sure to get an Rx for Zofran and have it ready to go in case we need it!
3. Sleeping was also difficult – we gave her 2-3mg of melatonin every night and it helped get her to sleep. You can get 1mg chewable tablets that work great.
4. If you think anything is wrong – get it checked out! She was complaining of sharp parts in her cast after the first few days – we brought her in and there was a big piece of the cast poking into her side. They were able to cut it out (which wasn’t pleasant but overall much better). Later she got a rash on her knee that was casted and it was incredibly itchy – with no way to reach it or itch it (I can’t even imagine how awful that was for her! Next time you have an itch, don’t scratch it and see how crazy it makes you!). I wish I would have taken her in to see if they could have cut us a little access hole so we could have scratched it. It was really rashy when her cast finally came off!
Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions, I’m more than happy to share what we did or just be a sympathetic ear!
Until next time!
jesi
p.s. Violet is now 12 and doing great! We opted to have a new surgery to fix her 1″ leg-length difference. She had worn a lift on her shoe for about 2 years, when we found a new ortho who suggested putting a metal plate in the growth plate of her “long” leg. This stopped its growth and let the other leg catch up. About a year later she was able to have the hardware removed and her legs are EVEN STEVEN! The great news is that evening out her legs also made her hip angle very close to normal (!!!) so we are really grateful that we did this surgery! She’s a happy, healthy, horse-crazy kiddo!
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