Nisarga’s hip is dislocated

Nisarga’s hip has been found to be dislocated. A few weeks ago, my husband and his mother took him to another doctor who described physiotherapy. Whoever’s followed his story for long knows he doesn’t deal well with physiotherapy and I was reluctant to send him. But there really seemed no other options to help him move either, as he had reached a plateau of sorts with the Feldenkrais Method as well.

So, I was on the net as usual, trying to find out what his problem was and how I could help him move. I had suspected a problem with his hips several times and even mentioned it to doctors who dismissed it as his spasticity. But to me it genuinely seemed like he is not able to use his hips properly even with muscles relaxed.

I found a photo of a hip dislocation and it was like a bulb lit in my head. That is exactly how Nisarga’s leg presents! This was late Tuesday night. I spent all night consuming videos of hip dislocations. They all showed adults, but their legs presented exactly like Nisarga’s. On Wednesday, I went to a local doctor and demanded that he write us a prescription for an X-Ray. He wrote it for a spinal X-Ray, which would cover whole spine including hips. We went and got it done. On returning home, I checked the X-Ray which was mostly normal other than some problems with his 5th Lumbar vertebra. That didn’t seem right. I was pretty certain his hip was dislocated. So I tried to see what his hip looked like on the X-Ray, and it wasn’t included.

So we went again, the next day to get another X-Ray done. Of the pelvis this time. And there it was. A clearly dislocated hip, on the technician’s monitor itself. Right there – first glance.

That put us on a round of doctors and tests and the long story made short is we are admitting him to Surya Hospital tomorrow and he will undergo a four to five hour surgery on Thursday morning to fix his hip. The doctor said he will try a closed reduction first (manipulating the joint back into place under general anesthesia, but without surgery). If that doesn’t work, he will do an open reduction (surgery to bring joint into correct position). If that succeeds, well and good. But there may be abnormal growth of the thigh bone preventing it, in which case he will need a femoral osteotomy as well and a pelvic osteotomy if the socket in the pelvis where the ball of the joint on the femur should fit is not shaped correctly to receive it. So a minimum of one and maximum of three procedures will be done on him on Thursday.

After the surgery, he will be placed in a spica cast which will immobilize his hips and legs in the correct position (rather like riding a horse) to hold the joint stable so that it heals in the correct position.

That is what is going on. It is scary thinking of him undergoing surgery (I don’t really trust doctors after our experiences with him, plus he is so small), but I am convinced his hip needs to return to correct position so that he can use it to balance himself and sit at least, if not walk. It will hopefully prevent long term pain and deterioration of his hip. So while scary, I am convinced it is necessary and a part of me is relieved that we found out what the problem was so that it can be fixed.

That is where we are. Nisarga is completely normal at this point. He doesn’t know a better hip, so all is routine with him. Remains to be seen how he takes the surgery. I am still hoping on that tiny chance, near negligible, that the closed reduction will work and he will escape surgery, but if he doesn’t, I know that even with surgery, the hip getting fixed will hopefully allow him to use his hip better.

Let us see. Whatever it is, life goes on, and we have come through much together, and we will continue to face things together.