UPDATE:  Curly made it through the 5+ hour surgery just fine.  She did need a blood transfusion, but the docs did all they had hoped to do in the surgery.  So much so, there may not need to be any other surgeries!!  She’s doing fine, and should be going home in a couple of days.  She half-opened her eyes post-op and said, “Mama, booboo.”  It broke our hearts.  The spica cast is HUGE and purple.  Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

My great niece was born six months before Sun.  I’ll call her Curly.  Curly, like Sun, was a breech baby.  In the hospital with Sun’s birth, they did an ultrasound of her hips due to her having been breech.  I knew this was a concern because Curly went through it also and she had an issue.  Sun’s hips were fine.

Curly was treated for developmental dysplasia of the hip.  She was given a brace to wear when she was days old.  As the months passed, things were not improving.  They gave her a more aggressive brace.  It didn’t help.

Time passed and Curly started to walk.  With a limp.  Her condition is the result of a hip ligament being too flexible thus allowing her hip bone to have popped out of her hip socket.  So even though her legs are the same size, one leg is resting higher than it should.  By not being in the socket, the hip bone is impinging on nerves, blood vessels, etc.

Curly’s parents were told earlier this year that her condition is worsening.  If they do nothing, Curly could lose her leg. Lose. Her. Leg.

Curly’s mother lost her own mother at a young age.  The mere thought of putting her daughter under anesthesia for major surgery stops my niece-in-law in her tracks.  I don’t blame her.  If this were Sun, I’d be freaked out too.

So tomorrow they are doing the first of potentially three (3) surgeries to fix things.  This round is rough.  They’ll make an incision in her hip area, clear out the fatty tissue that has grown in the hip socket and place the hip back into place.  That seems easy enough.  But that’s just the first part.  The second step is the doozy.

They’ll make another incision into her thigh.  Then they will cut about a half inch out of her thigh bone.  Then screw the two ends together.  They need to shorten her leg so that the hip, once replaced, isn’t too tight in the socket such that it will pop right back out.

And to top it off, Curly will be in a body cast for six weeks.  And she’s not allowed to move.  For six weeks.

I love Curly so very much.  She’s sweet and gentle and has the cutest heart-shaped face framed with amber curls.

This is breaking my heart.  I can’t stop thinking about her and the ordeal this will be for her, her mother (her father, my nephew, is in the Navy and the surgery cannot wait until he’s home in August to do), my sister.

Even if all goes as best as it can, I KNOW there’s no pain like bone pain.  She has no idea that tomorrow she’ll go to the hospital, be poked and put to sleep only to wake up in a body cast and in pain. Then she’ll be released to her home in three days where she’ll have to stay still for six weeks.  In pain.

Then there will be physical therapy.  And future surgeries.  And early onset arthritis in that hip.  IF the surgery goes through (the first attempt did not happen as Curly had a runny nose and diaper rash) is a success.

Please take a moment to send up a prayer or well wishes for Curly and her family.  It’s going to be a difficult day for us all.