Hi Alison.

Amy had an adductor tenotomy followed by 3 months' plaster, followed by 3
months' brace from age 9 months. The brace, if it is like the one Amy had, isn't
as bad as it sounds - it is a plastic, reasonably flexible one that she can sit
up in by herself, and it is removable for baths, etc. We had to keep Amy in it
pretty much 22 hours a day for about 3 weeks, then gradually reduced the time
she was in it so that by 9 weeks, she was in it for nighttimes only.

I know at the moment it sounds like whenever you think you're getting somewhere
and the light's starting to shine at the end of the tunnel, someone comes along
and says 'another 8 weeks......', but you're already done so much and it's
probably become so much a part of your life, what's 8 more weeks, if it means
that Catriona is that little bit more sturdy?

Also, we found the brace quite helpful cos aswell as weaning Amy off the plaster
and back into 'normal' movement, it also helped wean us off handling her with a
plaster onto handling her normally. I think had we gone straight from plaster to
nothing, two things - one, Amy may have gone crackers and moved over-vigorously
and done herself some damage, and two, we would've been handling her so
artificially gently that it wouldn't have been sustainable, and we would've been
panicking every time we had to lift or carry her.

Just remember, every day is bringing you one step further to Catriona having the
best hips ever, and the longer you can keep her stable the better it will be for
a fuller recovery. It is hard while you're going through it (as I say,
especially when the docs keep putting a spanner in the works by ommitting to
mention a crucial stage like a brace), but it's already been so long and it's
already such a 'normal' way of life for you, if you can keep going for just a
little bit longer, you'll hopefully never have to worry about her hips again.

I hope she's settling well into her third spica. Good luck over the next few
weeks.

Take care.

Barbara & Amy
----- Original Message -----
From: Alison Cameron
To: clickyhipsclub@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2005 9:30 AM
Subject: [Clicky Hips Club] Catriona - brace


Hi



Catriona had her third hip spica put on yesterday. She has this on for
four weeks then her hip will be assessed & that most probably she will
need to wear a brace for a further 8 weeks or so. We were unprepared for
this as we had been told initially that her treatment would be 2 weeks
in traction followed by 3 months in casts. Does anyone have any
experiences of the brace stage of treatment? I would also be interested
to know if anyone has been told the success rate following traction/open
reduction/3 months in hip spicas/brace.



Sometimes it seems like a long road to travel!



Thanks

Alison



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