Hello...

It's been a long time since I've come to this site. I used to frequent the old site...got really, really busy with all the kids and decided it was time to come back!! It was tough finding my way here...lots of google and yahoo searches.

Anyways, I wanted to get some advice on hip migration in spastic CP. A little history...

Alyssa was born at 32.5 weeks (An identical twin. Her twin is typical.) She has spastic diplegia. She is now five years old. We tried botox last year, but the effects were not very long-lasting (only about a month.) So the doctors don't want to try again.

Hip x-rays revealed her hips were migrating. I forgot the range we were told in April but one side was about 18 percent and the other side about 25 percent???? The doctor mentioned back in April that he thought she needed the muscle lengthening surgery surgery but that it wasn't an emergency...just a matter of time...better sooner than later. Well, we put it off because it didn't seem like we had to do it right way. It was actually kind of a shock because we've never been told that might be a possibility.

We go back to the doctor tomorrow with another set of x-rays I had taken today, which is five months after the last set. I have been researching this surgery and also the selective dorsal rhizotomy. I read that if we were interested in the selective dorsal rhizotomy, it was best to go into the surgery having had NO orthopedic surgeries, that we would have a better result. So I feel like we need to decide if we are going to go through with the lengthening surgery or hold off and look into the rhizotomy surgery more.

Does anyone have any advice? Has anyone been in this situation? How bad is the lengthening surgery? Any good results from the rhizotomy?

My feedback from the physical therapist is that rhizotomy is such a major, permanent surgery. While I know it is....she isn't faced with this situation. She goes home to her typical children at the end of the day.

HELP!

Thanks,
Jodi

P.S. Does anyone go to the CP clinic at UCLA?