Post by bsutravis on Jun 1, 2007 12:34:49 GMT -5
Well fellas.......it's been 360 days today since my son was diagnosed with Perthes Disease in his hip. It's been a very trying year for him and us as we dealt with a disease with very little in terms of certainties. In the past year the "ball" of his femur on the left leg has deteriorated by approx 80%, leaving the normally round smooth ball in a flattened, jagged, lopsided state.
Finally this morning we got some good news, after going to doctors consistently every 2 months we finally have an x-ray that is showing some new bone being laid down on that femoral head. It's not everywhere, just a spot.....but that is a terrific sign that the bone is in the healing phase now. We have another pediatric orthopedic surgeon we see next week at Riley who has been our 2nd opinion doc through all this. If he agrees with our primary orthopedic doc, our son can finally start to rehab his hip.
Right now he walks with a HORRIBLE limp...... Kids would call him "Chester" if they had a clue what the show "Gunsmoke" was. There's some real promise with Kyle because even with the massive crushing of the femoral head, his leg length only shrunk by approx. 1/2 cm. So, if we can get all the stiffness out and get his strength back than he should be able to walk and run without a limp.
My son was the ultimate boy.... with nothing but baseball, football, & basketball on his mind. Having to sit on the sidelines the past year has been like ripping his heart out.......so the thought of him being able to play team sports possibly as soon as this fall made him break down with tears of joy on the ride home this morning as I explained everything to him. (He always wanted to wait outside when the docs would talk to us because he was so afraid of the bad news that we've gotten over the past year).
In any event, God is great! Thank you all so much for the prayers and thoughts through all this. I'll keep the updates coming!
Finally this morning we got some good news, after going to doctors consistently every 2 months we finally have an x-ray that is showing some new bone being laid down on that femoral head. It's not everywhere, just a spot.....but that is a terrific sign that the bone is in the healing phase now. We have another pediatric orthopedic surgeon we see next week at Riley who has been our 2nd opinion doc through all this. If he agrees with our primary orthopedic doc, our son can finally start to rehab his hip.
Right now he walks with a HORRIBLE limp...... Kids would call him "Chester" if they had a clue what the show "Gunsmoke" was. There's some real promise with Kyle because even with the massive crushing of the femoral head, his leg length only shrunk by approx. 1/2 cm. So, if we can get all the stiffness out and get his strength back than he should be able to walk and run without a limp.
My son was the ultimate boy.... with nothing but baseball, football, & basketball on his mind. Having to sit on the sidelines the past year has been like ripping his heart out.......so the thought of him being able to play team sports possibly as soon as this fall made him break down with tears of joy on the ride home this morning as I explained everything to him. (He always wanted to wait outside when the docs would talk to us because he was so afraid of the bad news that we've gotten over the past year).
In any event, God is great! Thank you all so much for the prayers and thoughts through all this. I'll keep the updates coming!
