Little Bella has captured the hearts of our family and everyone that meets her. We want to share her story with all.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Dislocated Knee

Today we went to see the specialist that the specialist sent us to see.  Short visit.  Lot of tears during the x-rays.  Doctor comes back in and says, “She doesn’t have a dislocated patella.  She has a dislocated knee.  I can’t help you.  Go see this guy (in Seattle) or this guy (in Florida).”  What?  Scrambling, trying to keep him in the room long enough to process that and form a reasonable question.  Evidently, knees do get dislocated to the front or the back.  Usually in some trauma.  Congenital and chronic is very rare.   And hers is dislocated to the side.  He had never seen it – and based on his age – that’s saying something.  Down syndrome complicates things with our extremely lax ligaments.  Grasping for straws I asked about her practicing her standing and her cruising – is she hurting herself?  No, not right now.  But if you don’t fix this, she will.  Ahh…brain starts making connections. <flashback> Specialist that referred us here told me that she would need a total knee replacement and a year of intense rehab, but “no one will do that to her.”  Be prepared, he told me, that this doc is not going to be aggressive with her.  <back to reality>  So if he thinks we need to be aggressive, then this is bad.  Worse than expected.  OK.  So now we have to figure this out.

Have to contact the doctor in Seattle (of course the one WITHOUT email – at least that I can find   (and the one specialist highly recommends.  He’s worked with him in the past about orthopedic issues with DS kids). Have to contact the doctor in Florida.  Need to send them the x-rays and clinical notes and try to get as much information over the phone before we think about jumping on a plane.  Will private insurance cover this?  Will it help?  Will it be worth doing?  Watching her scream during x-rays makes me just want to accept that she’ll never walk and move on.  But if we don’t do something, will we hurt her more?   How long would we be gone?  What about the rest of the family?

2 comments:

heather said...

Do you have a Shriner's hospital near you? My friend is having her 4 year old daughter with Ds have surgery on her knee cap at the Shriners here in SLC. You should email her and compare notes. Summer sumshines@yahoo.com

Heather said...

Bella, Bella, bella. What are we to do with you sweet girl?

How about here in LA? CHLA or UCLA. Just a thought.

Will be hoping and praying for answers for the wonder girl.