Tathiana's Hip Surgery

This Friday, January 30th, Tathiana will have hip replacement surgery. It's been a lifelong journey for her, and this will hopefully give her long-term relief.

Tathiana was born with hip dysplasia and was undiagnosed until later childhood. She had two extensive surgeries when she was young, which involved long hospital stays far from home, leg traction, and full-body casts. She carried plates and screws in her legs for decades (in the picture, you can still see the hardware in her left leg), as well as a slight leg-length difference. After our daughter was born, she had another surgery to remove the hardware in her right leg to help with the inflammation and pain that resulted from her pregnancies.

When we moved to Birmingham, Tathiana was accepted as a patient at the renowned Andrews Sports Medicine. In October, her orthopedist quickly recommended hip replacement surgery after seeing her exams. "There's no other intervention that will help anywhere close to surgery,” he said. We knew this was coming at some point, but were a bit shocked that the time had come. “It's time,” was his response.

Adventures in substitute teaching

The surgery will be a robotic approach as an outpatient surgery, which is truly mind-blowing. If anyone is interested, here is a link to an animated video of the procedure (FYI- it's not gross!).

So for the next months, Tathiana will be rehabilitating, unable to drive and not substitute teaching as she recovers. Most people say you regain mobility quickly in the first weeks, but full recovery takes a while. Jon will be covering a lot at home, the kids’ activities, and still working from home - pray for him, also!

We covet your prayers as she has surgery on Friday, and also the following weeks of recovery.

A kind friend has set up a Meal Train for us if you would like to help with a meal or a restaurant gift card. So many have already signed up, and we are humbled by your concern and God's care. See the Meal Train link here.