Harri's hips

Yesterday we went to Stanmore for Harri's latest six-monthly assessment of her hips. If we're honest, we were confident we'd be signed off for two years - if you've seen her running, jumping, skipping, walking on tip-toe, you'd have thought the same. So it was a bit of a shock to learn that a second operation could well be on the cards in a couple of years time.

Harri's hip dysplasia is well documented on this blog, so you'll know how serious the operation was: it was bilateral (most counts of dysplasia affect just one hip - Amelia's potential dysplasia only affects her left hip, for example), which meant the chances of success were much less, because there wasn't a stable hip for one to lean on.

The news isn't definite, and not bad when you view it from one perspective. Both hip sockets continue to form, but the degrees at which they're forming differ, which is understandable as the left hip was worse than the right. The consultant would ideally want to see a hip socket of less than 30 degrees - the right hip is 26 degrees, so no problems there, but the left is borderline: anything from 28 to 31 depending on where it's measured. He's probably erred on the side of caution by saying it's 31, but better to be safe than sorry, obviously. As both hips have developed at the same rate since last year's scan (when they were 31 and 36/38 respectively), you have to hope that a second operation won't be needed. But the thought poor Harri might be in the clear has obviously gone for now. We'll have another checkup in a year's time, which will give us a better idea of whether that second op will be needed. It'll mean more time in plaster, which will be a lot harder on Harri and Toni this time round, and it may even disrupt her first term at school too.

I'm not looking for sympathy - I still harbour hopes the hips are doing well, all things considered - but Toni has been hit hard by this news, and we won't make the mistake of thinking things will be okay after this...