Pre Surgery Appointment

Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and have no medical background. I am just writing based on my experiences and occasionally I may get things wrong.

We were very nervous and anxious about our pre-surgery appointment or as the doctor put it, it was our Q&A appointment.  We decided to go to the appointment while Isa was at school so that we could freely discuss everything. 

As with previous visits everyone was very friendly :) As you can imagine we had three pages worth of questions! I felt guilty about how much time we were taking about 45 minutes into the appointment but Dr. Vin said he was there for us and didn't have anywhere else he needed to be and would be there until we were all done with ALL the questions, what a relief!!!! This made me feel so reassured with the decision we made to pick him to be Isa's surgeon!

Some of the questions we asked included:

What exactly will be done?
A small incision will be made on the outer thigh slightly above her knee and the femur bone will be broken in order to realign them.  Metal plates or pins will be used in order to keep the bones in place. The metal hardware is removed within six months in a minor outpatient procedure.

Why the femur as apposed to the hip bone?
Doing the femur in my opinion is better because doing the hip would require an almost full body cast.

The other doctor said he wouldn't put a cast on her, why?
In my opinion doing hip surgery without a cast is a risk for a child her age. A child needs a cast to prevent injury since they are not able to stay in mobile for that long.

How long will the surgery be?
About 2 hours
How long will she be in a cast?
For about a month

How much will be in a cast?
From mid thigh to past the ankle

How long will she be in the hospital?
On average for about 2-3 days, maybe longer maybe less

Will she be in a wheelchair?
Yes, for at least a month full time and then on and off for a month or so

When will we get thewheelchair?
We will send the prescription to the place that rents them and they will take care of the insurance stuff and deliver the chair to the hospital.  The physical therapist in the hospital will make sure that the chair is the right fit for her if not they will change it out for her .

When will she start physical therapy and for how long?
She will start physical therapy when the cast come off and probably do it a few times a week for two months afterwards

Does the hospital have tours for kids?
Yes, and my office will help set that up

When will she be able to resume her normal activities?
Within 8 weeks post surgery she should be able to sign up for tackle football if you should choose to!

When will she be able to go back to school?
If the school is wheelchair accessible than as soon as she is off of narcotics

Those were some of the top questions but there were plenty more!
Jon and I felt so much better about the surgery having all of our questions answered and knowing that our doctor CARES! The fact that within 8 weeks she should be back to her regular activities is also very reassuring!  I can't help but be amazed with how resilient a child can be!!

We are now ready to prepare for surgery and see where our journey leads us!






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