What does that actually mean to Dexter?
This procedure is necessary. Without it, Dexter's hip will be dislocated. He won't be able to stand on them.
This procedure will set Dexter back at least 18 months in his physical development.
What does that mean to Dexter?
We are essentially deleting the last 18 months worth of physical therapies.
30 hours of swimming, gone.
70 hours of physiotherapy, gone.
About 700 hours of home physiotherapy, gone.
The last femoral osteotomy was for only one of Dexter's legs. It set him back two years.
His hip muscle release procedure set him back another 18 months.
We can't measure his chemotherapy treatments and how they set him back in his development.
So, because of three hip surgeries, Dexter will be 'deleting' a lot of therapy.
About 185 hours of physiotherapy, gone.
About 3,400 hours of home physiotherapy (in his standing frame and walker), gone.
In the pool, Dexter has been blowing bubbles! He is putting his head under water, holding his breath and coming back up for air. It took him so long to learn this.
He will have to start over.
This summer, his sisters will be swimming every day. Dexter loves the water!
He won't be allowed to swim.
His muscles will lose all of their strength, because he won't use them for at least six weeks. He will need to work really hard, to build up his stamina and the strength he will lose.
There is a chance Dexter will need to learn to eat, again. The last femoral osteotomy, Dexter relied on a feeding tube for a week. That was long enough for his mouth and throat muscles to forget how to chew, eat and swallow.
One very determined nurse refused to give up on him.
This time, we are so scared that this will happen again.
Lenice and Andrew have seen Dexter being resuscitated so many times. They have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and this is a strong part of it.
Dexter will be in hospital for at least a week. The medical team have agreed to allowing him to be sent straight to the Children's Intensive Care Unit. They expect he will need a lot of support, post surgery.
Dexter's sisters will be left, again.
They worry. They get scared.
They miss their brother and miss their mum and dad.
Dexter was three, the last time his femur was cut and twisted and screwed into his hip socket. While he was in the surgical review meeting, we are not sure how much of the technical language he understood. Lenice and Andrew will explain what will happen. And, why. Dexter will hate them. And, fair enough.
Last time Dexter had his femoral osteotomy, his leg became two centimetres shorter. After this surgery, his leg will be four centimetres shorter. To even out his leg height, the previously uncut leg will have four centimetres of bone cut out.
When they got him home, Lenice and Andrew took Dexter to the town pool. Usually, Dexter loves the water, but the pain in his legs was too much. Dexter screamed. And, people watched him and glared at Lenice and Andrew. They packed up, in tears, and brought him home.
This time, Dexter has a new pool. The water is warm and the people at that pool love Dexter. We will get him there, for recovery hydrotherapy, as much as we can.
There is a chance Dexter will be in hospital for Christmas Day, if his surgical recovery goes slower than planned. More of Andrew's work leave will be taken up on hospital stays, rather than family holiday fun.
Dexter will be very difficult to move, when we bring him home. When he had the brace and was only three, he was heavy and awkward and difficult to move. This time, Dexter will be seven. It will be very, very difficult to move him. There is a chance he will spend his summer holidays in his lounge room.
When Lenice and Andrew say they are scared and worried, these are some of the thoughts crowding their heads:
They are scared Dexter will die.
They are scared the surgery won't work.
They are frustrated at the hours and hours and hours of lost therapies.
They are angry that this has to happen to their little boy.
They are tired; bone-weary exhausted.
They feel guilty, for causing Dexter pain and putting him through all of this.
They are anxious and barely holding themselves together.
But, they are an amazing team and Dexter is lucky to have them.
More information about Dexter's first femoral osteotomy - Dexter’s Femoral Osteotomy - the first one
After the first femoral osteotomy, Dexter struggled to breathe and a code blue was called : We Nearly Lost Him
Hurting Hips
Taking off the Brace
Brace Pain
Back From Hospital
A Braceless Day!
My Brace, and the Water Incident
So Awful
Cast Away
Purple-Legged Adventurer
Cranky
Dexter's First Month
Dexter's Vision
Dexter's Cerebral Palsy
Dexter's Cancer
Who is Dexter?
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