And the answer is...?
THIS is what's next:
Hip surgery.
Yep. Mid June.
Half of me is really excited and the other half of me is petrified at the thought of it. The excited part of me says, "praise God that there is an option for your little boy and that his mangled little hips can be corrected!" And, "be grateful that there is a qualified and competent doctor out there, who is willing to tackle this mountain of a mess!" And, "how exciting is it that your son might be able to walk one day!"
And I am. I am excited. And grateful.
But the petrified half of me knows--it will not be a walk in the park. Corban's hips are a mess! His hips are bilaterally dislocated and his ball joints are backward. Yes, that's right. They are backward!
Why? Well, at birth, both of Corban's femurs were badly broken. But all we could do at that point was to leave them alone and let them heal. So they healed. Backward.
To fix this problem, Corban's femurs will need to be cut (osteotomy) and rotated (180 degrees or so), "pins" put in his legs, and ball joints placed in socket (probably, for the first time ever). There's also a good chance that the surgeon will need to take a small section of his femur OUT, in order to fit his hips into socket. Yuck.
The surgery is supposed to take all day (about 7 hours), with a 4-5 day hospital stay, and a total of 8 days away from home.
When he comes home, Corban will be in a spica cast, which will look something like this picture below.
He will be in it for 6-12 weeks after surgery, which will make for a looooonnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg, hot and stinky summer. He will not be able to take baths while in casts, and we will need to staunchly protect the casts from any and all liquids (including those that come out of the body).
He will be in pain. He will not be able to sleep. He will cry. He will not want to eat. He will be miserable. And so will we.
Our other two kids will have a hard time with it all. They will be stressed. We will be stressed. Corban will be in pain. They won't understand. It will make for an even longer summer.
So, when you think of it, please pray for us! Pray that God would see him through the surgery. Pray that Corban would tolerate the shock of it all. Pray that he would not feel betrayed as we hand him over to the doctors to be "tortured." Pray that Corban forgets all of this when he's older. Pray that the Lord guides the surgeon's hands as he cuts my baby's flesh, bones, and then puts all the pieces back together again. Pray the doctor is well-rested, focused and doesn't encounter any unexpected problems during surgery. Pray the anestesia would do it's job and that Corban would not taste excruciating pain. Pray he wouldn't have any reactions to the drugs he's given. Pray he would not get any infections. Pray the Lord gives us strength and mercy to help Corban through the recovery process. And pray that God would surround us all in his perfect peace.
Pray. Just. Pray.
