21st August 2013 - 6 month check-up

It was supposed to be 19th August, but apparently clinic days were changed. Of course the patient gets minimal notice of this change of appointment, no thought that we have plans, the kids have plans. We had to arrange someone to look after Hailie and Alan had to change a very important appointment at the last minute. We took the usual journey to The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, being an appointment at 10.20am means even though we are only a half hour drive from London, we still needed to allow for catching the back end of rush hour. We were pretty early, so went to the shop first, whilst we were standing outside, reducing the stress levels I said to Alan that in a way, it feels like our second home. This is saddening. We still had 10-15 minutes before Maisie's appointment, we decided to go up early, because she needed xrays first, logically thinking, if we get things sorted early, we have a chance of being seen quicker! When we got to clinic 3 and approached the desk, the receptionist recognized us and knew it was Maisie she needed to look for. This upset me a little inside, as it shows how many times we've been here. The lovely receptionist gave us the form for xray and sent us down for that. It looked quite busy in the waiting room, I think it was about 20 mins in total. Maisie as usual was good as gold having her xrays, doing as she's told and laying still on the bed. Once back up at clinic 3 Maisie went off to play with the toys they provide, I had to stand as there wasn't a seat, Alan had gone for more stress relief! I was standing for around 10 mins then a seat came available, we went to sit, literally sat for 30 seconds then the registrar called us. I have learnt that we only see the surgeon when things don't look very good, but still have some worry as they could call her in at any time. He sat us down asked how she is in daily life, pain etc. The registrar was silent while he loaded up Maisie's xrays and checked them over. He turned and told us that there is improvement on the femur! Yayy happy dance! We have bone growth, the left femur looks more like it should. He did say that the hip has a long way to go before they are happy with it and it can still dislocate at any time, we are not out of the woods completely, but we are getting there slowly and that is the main thing. After discussing the xrays, we asked about the instep that was requested last time - we still haven't received the appointment for this. He watched Maisie walking, went off and spoke with the physio and brought her into the room to discuss this with us. They measured her leg length and although there is still a slight discrepancy they both recommended that an instep being fitted now could cause more problems, plus so far she's done ok without it. We go back in 6 months for another check-up. For now, check out the xray!! The single hip is the left. The double is Maisie's left hip from February 2013 on the left and the new xray on the right. You don't need a degree to see the improvement!!

Steph xxxx