Ron's Hip Surgery Jan 2015

Ron was pretty excited for the surgery. He had high hopes that Dr. Hillyard would fix everything. And he did a great job. It was a little rough because he couldn't move at all for what seemed forever. Not sit up at an angle, nothing. The Dr. wanted to try and get the hip to stabilize on it's own to avoid a hip replacement (he is too young for this per the Doc.). I thought Ron was going to go crazy (I know I would). Laying there in bed for weeks. I think it was 6 weeks total. And every 2 weeks he had to ride the Gold Cross ambulance to Murray to see Dr. Hillyard. He had a brace on that leg to keep him from moving the hip. Ron hated that thing.

Here are some pics from the hospital bed, he ended up staying there almost a week, he lost some blood and blood had to be drained from the bleeding caused by the bone removal etc. He also had to be moved from the care center in South Ogden to another facility because he needed a special board to be transferred to for his physical therapy while bed ridden. It took several days to find a place that had this table. He is now in North Ogden at the Deseret Health and Rehab Center.

The Surgery went well, and I asked Dr. Hillyard how much bone was removed, he described it as if it was like removing 150 cubed-sized sugar cubes. (A LOT).

Ron went to the new facility and it felt like starting over again with learning to walk and move again. We had high hopes for his hip. Here are some pics of Ron working with that special table. He would be strapped on the table and the rehab Dr. would flip him around to standing position in order to keep that hip in place.

Christmas and another Hip Surgery in January 2015

Ron came to our house on Christmas Eve and he had a sleepover on our couch. Ron was with us when Santa came, he wanted a cane to help with his walking. Santa brought him a cane, he was very grateful. Ron and I watched a movie together while everyone else slipped out of the room, and went their own ways, they couldn't get into the movie I guess. It was great hanging out. I set up a tree in his room at the care center that he could enjoy during the holidays.

For several months Ron was complaining about his hip, he hasn't been able to straighten out his leg and his hip (left hip that was hit so hard) just hurts all the time. He had been walking all over the place and trying to do his physical therapy. Nothing helped. We went to the Dr. in December and Dr. Hillyard advised that the surgery was a risk, he was diagnosed with Heterotopic Ossification. This is caused when bones form abnormally where there has been traumatic injuries. This was the case in Ron's hip and pelvis. Neurological injuries (TBI) can cause this issue, which was also the case with Ron. We are pretty sure he has the same problem in his left arm. His left arm will not turn. His left arm and hand does not function much at all. Below is an X-ray of the Ossification formed on his left hip:

The reason the Doctor felt the surgery would be a risk was because it isn't a guarantee that it will be fixed. And, he has to dig out all the bone that has formed in his muscles. He described it like trying to find hundreds of marbles in beef and trying not to mess up the meat. Another thing that could go wrong is the feeling in his legs and feet because the bone was also formed near his Sciatic Nerve, which could get damaged. He warned Ron of these risks, however Ron wanted to go ahead with the surgery. So we set the date for the first week in January 2015. Below is the x-ray of his hip, the bone looks like crystals forming and growing abnormally.