Hip Dysplasia (Adult)
In 2019 Angelina was complaining about knee pain. I took her to see an orthopedic only because I myself had patella tracking issues so I took her to have it checked out. At that point, the doctor told her it was nothing. I know my child isn’t one to complain at all. The pain continued, so I took her to another orthopedic doctor who ordered some imaging which showed the knee issues in both the left and right leg. In 2021 Angelina had her left knee operated on and within a week started complaining about her left hip. I told her that she just had knee surgery and her gait was off because she also needed corrective surgery on the right and to heal fully.
Fast forward, 3 months later, Angelina had her right knee corrected. She did very well after having both knees done with the exception of her left hip pain continuing to be an issue. Her orthopedic surgeon suggested an MRI of her hip to rule out a labral tear. The report came back confirming that she had a torn labrum. Her orthopedic also did hips but I felt I should take her to someone more specialized in hips so I did. That orthopedic told her he couldn’t tell us much until Angelina had a hip map, which we did. A few weeks later we saw the ortho specialist again and he told us that in fact she did have a tear and impingement but also had something wrong with her femur. So we basically had two options, one being a less invasive repair of the impingement or a more invasive approach which involved breaking her femur. That seemed unnecessary so we opted to go with the less invasive procedure. The doctor assured us that it would take care of her pain. Angelina did amazing until, one day at physical therapy, they had her lift 70lbs. After that, she said that something did not feel right. When we went back to the doctor, Angelina was told to take it easy with therapy. Over the next several weeks, her pain continued to get worse. They ordered an MRI and it showed another labral tear. Immediately, I took Angelina for a second opinion – something just didn’t feel right about the situation as Angelina kept complaining of pain.
After yet another opinion, we were basically told that her pain was all in her head and nothing was wrong. As her mother, I knew something wasn’t right. So, yet again, we went for another opinion. That is when we were told that Angelina’s numbers from her hip map were off and that doctor recommended that we see Dr. Feldman at the Paley Orthopedic and Spine Institute. I called right away to make a first available appointment in March. When we had our appointment with Dr. Feldman, I remember when he walked into the room, looked at Angelina, and said, “you are one complicated kid.” With one of the PAs in the room, he started calling out a bunch of numbers while reviewing her hip map. Dr. Feldman told us so many things, that we left his office feeling overwhelmed. At the end of June, Angelina had her labrum repaired again. Then two weeks later, Dr. Feldman operated on Angelina, doing a PAO – the plan being to break her femur and her pelvis. Halfway through the procedure, the Dr. Feldman came out and said that he did not have to break her pelvis and that everything went perfectly. Dr. Feldman has been such a blessing and Angelina is a happy, pain-free kid again. At just 5 months post-op, Angelina started roller skating. Just 7 weeks ago Angelina had her hardware removed and returned to roller skating only 2 weeks after removal. Angelina skates up to 4 times a week now.
Thank you to Dr. Feldman and his medical team for never giving up on Angelina!
Jessica
Angelina’s Mom
