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Cassidy's Story
CHAPTER FOUR
First recovery
The first couple of weeks after the surgery were a bit of daze to me. I really should have kept a diary. I found out I was pregnant with our second child and that was a daunting prospect, given our situation!
The operation was a success from the surgeon's point of view. The closed reduction on the right hip went smoothly and he did perform the open reduction on the left hip. Cassy handled the operation well, both physically and mentally, but of course it was still a bit overwhelming for her. The first day or two were spent fast asleep most of the time. She didn't freak out about the hip spica and was delighted when they put bright pink fibreglass over the cast. She grew quite fond of her 'hard pants' and the hospital even had a dolly with a matching spica. We also plastered her own dolly and coloured it bright pink. 'Hard pant dolly' went everywhere Cassy did, although she didn't leave her bed for a few days.
The RCH provided both play and music therapists and Cassidy enjoyed these visits and the activities, but sometimes she just wanted to be left alone. She became quite good at rating her pain out of 10 and the nurses also used a chart with facial expressions ranging from smiling to crying. Cassy only needed to point to the appropriate face, she didn't rate her pain very high, but it had its ups and downs.
It was a happy day when we put Cassidy in her pram and then finally in her car seat to go home. We used a regular pram and car seat, with cushions underneath to prop up her legs as the weight of the spica tended to drag down and hurt her back. We also had a cushion behind her in the car seat to to bring her legs forward so that they would clear the sides of the seat. For added support we tied a cord from one side of the seat, around the plaster bar, and back to the other side of the seat. The car seat was placed in the middle of the back seat to allow room for her wide legs. This had the unfortunate side effect of having to lift a heavy 'concrete' child into the middle of the car -not so easy considering I was pregnant, but I wound up with very good stomach muscles!
Cassidy soon discovered that she could be mobile in her hard pants and would delight us by performing 'roll-overs', 'walking' (on her knees) and even dancing. We hired a trolley from the RCH and Cassidy would lay on her tummy on it (tied on, of course!) and we would pull her along. She loved it. We also brought home some board-like contraption to sleep on but swiftly realised she was much more comfortable in her own bed propped up here and there with pillows.
Cassy potty trained herself whilst in the spica -she just backed up to the potty and plonked herself down! Before that we used disposable nappies with the tabs folded in. We did try cutting the tabs off, but that made them leak and leaking in a spica is a big no-no. Baths were had in the kitchen sink of all places. This worked well as Cassy would lay on cushions on the drain rack and we would wash her hair in the sink part and sponge bathe the rest. Oh how we loved cushions!
Clothing we thought would be a big problem but it wasn't really. She just wore dresses with a wide skirt and leggings on her legs. We also put jumpers on her legs, with the head hole placed nicely over the hole in the spica which allowed for toileting. It was also very important to keep her feet warm as there wasn't a lot of circulation happening there.
We kept Cassy active and she would find ways of entertaining herself -I forget how many dolly tea parties I attended. Although she had this hip deformity, Cassidy was seemingly 'compensated' for by possessing quite a high IQ (later tested at 147). She began to teach herself to read and write and spent hours drawing and singing. She also went to playgroup, where she sat on a little beanbag.
Now may be an appropriate time to mention that at this stage we were living in a pioneer-like hut with no mains power or running water in Chetwynd, near the Western Victorian/South Australian border. Surrounded by beautiful Stringy Bark forest, the area hosts the only population of the rare endangered Red Tailed Black Cockatoo. The Red Tailed Black Cockatoo ('Karak') is the 2006 Commonwealth Games mascot.
We went back to the RCH for two more plaster changes, each under anaesthetic. The second spica was a shock to Cassy as she had asked for blue, but the hospital ran out of blue and gave her bright green instead. She thought she looked like a frog! Both the second and third spicas were smaller than the first, being legs only. We made our own modifications to these spicas in the form of daddy's old slipper soles! These were glued to the knee area which served as Cassy's very active feet.
All up, Cassidy spent 6 months in the spicas and when the day came to remove the final one, she begged us to leave her hard pants on. One thing we were not prepared for was her utter terror when they cut the spica off with the 'power saw'. The poor little thing screamed in absolute horror throughout the whole thing and we later found out that she had thought they were cutting her legs off.
Her scar wasn't that bad and interestingly, the part that had been covered by the nappy was much finer and seemed to heal better. Her legs were very wobbly and scaly and hairy! They also remained apart in the parachute jump position for quite a while, before slowly being able to come together. Putting underwear and pants on her was very hard for the first couple of weeks and we didn't ever try to force her legs together.
On her first day home after the spica came off, all she said was "Make me walk, make me walk". And sure enough, she would try to move her wobbly little legs, which promptly went all over the place as she had limited muscle control and strength. She spent most of her time sitting on her chug-along train, where she would use her legs and push herself along. Later, she stood behind it and used it for support as she pushed it along and learnt to walk for the second time.
Within a few months, Cassidy was walking and running. She had a bit of a limp and her legs never seemed to regain full strength in the thigh/hamstring area. Regular x-rays over the next few years seemed promising, but we soon received the news that she would need more surgery.
Her brother, Lachlan was born not long after the spica came off and although he was a boy, we insisted that his hips be examined by ultra-sound! All clear, phew!
