And the cast goes on

When the Gopher was 4 months old, we found that he had a dislocated hip. It sounds scary and painful, but apparently it doesn't bother them very much. We saw an orthopedic surgeon and he recommended that we wait until he was a year old and then re-evaluate. So after his first birthday, we say the doctor again. He decided that we should go ahead with the surgery and put his hip back in place. So on January 18th, the Gopher had a closed hip reduction. After the surgery we knew that he would be in a cast (called a Spica), it goes from his chest all the way down to his ankle on the left side, and to his knee on the right. There is a hole cut out in the middle for diapering. Sounds like fun. Well Gopher wasn't very happy with it for the first week. And we spent the second week dealing with the smell. Oh yes he smelled. On the Friday of the second week, I called my father-in-law and asked him to bring me some duck tape. Our running joke is that by the end of this, he will be held together with duck tape and feminine products. After we made it through those first two weeks, we have been doing better. We got him a bean bag chair (Longhorn of course), and Popo made him a tray to sit at. We found out yesterday that the doctor wants him to stay in it another 6 weeks (making a total of 12). He said that the longer he stays in it, the better chance he will have of his hip staying in place when they take it off. So we are in it for the long haul.