From spica to sprinter.. an update on Hazel.

Just recently I happened upon a poster at school advertising running classes for children and I immediately thought of Hazel. Whether it is up and down the corridor of her dance school, from aisle to aisle in the supermarket or simply up and down our street, these days if she is moving, she is running. It is such a thrill to watch young children take such delight in simple movement but when you know that, but for the wonders of modern medicine, she quite possibly wouldn’t even be able to walk, it is even more special.

Hazie recently turned 5 years old and I am amazed as how far she has come. When she was around 12 months of age, I began to be suspiscious that her legs seemed to be uneven. An x-ray showed clearly, even to my untrained eye, an absence of any decent hip socket and a dislocated leg wandering off and well away from home. With her late diagnosis, a brace was not possible and so we went straight to salter osteotomy with 6 weeks in a spica. I won’t lie, short of my husband leaving, it was by far the most emotionally trying period of my life and yet it seems such a long time ago, the memories are blurred and softened by time so that I honestly struggle to remember the pain that at one time overwhelmed me.

Unlike many hip babies, Hazel never went into a brace following surgery and I must admit, after the overkill of the spica, it was hard not to feel like she was just going to be flopping about like a fish out of water without any form of support, but we have had nothing but wonderful progress. According to her surgeon at our last check up, the affected leg now seems to be growing slightly faster but nothing to worry about as yet.She may need to have something put onto the growth plate to even things up if it becomes an issue in the future but, for now, she runs, jumps, skips, dances, leaps and twirls her way through a normal childhood.

If you’re here because of your own DDH experience, I hope it will be as positive as my own. There is little that is harder for a parent than to see your child face this sort of challenge but it does get better and there is so much light at the end of the tunnel. Here is my little hip baby to prove it to you..