Blount's Disease is a progressive children's
disease that effects the varus angle of the
proximal tibia(shin bone).
On July 3rd, my daughter, AnnaRae had an appointment with a pediatric orthopedist after being referred by her pediatrician. I always noticed that her legs were bowed but was always told by numerous people that she would grow out of it. when she was around 13 months, I started to become a little more worried. I noticed how straight other babies legs were, and AnnaRaes were pretty dang curvy and bowed. That's when I asked the pediatrician to take a closer look.
We saw Dr. Paul Haynes, who is a pediatric orthopedist, and he was spectacular. I'm always skeptical about male doctors because AnnaRae gets really shy and does NOT like to cooperate. But Dr. Haynes was great and AnnaRae seemed to warm right up to him. He had her sit on my lap so he could take a look at her legs. He told me that he wanted to give her an x-ray, just to be on the safe side. At this point, I didn't have a worry in my head. Cool. X-Ray. Let's do it.
During her x-ray, AnnaRae did NOT want to hold still. So we brought in back-up. Cute tech boy. AnnaRae almost immediately stopped fussing and stared at him with the most bashful face. Adorable. stop it. So, after the X-Ray, we went back into the exam room and Dr. Haynes came back in, brought her X-Ray up on the computer, sat down, pointed at some things, spoke some big words, as I sat and nodded my head, pretending to understand every word. The only word I caught, and was able to understand was "disease". I'm sorry, what? Come again. Blounts Disease. He explained VERY little about it, which, after leaving the doctor, I realized that it pissed me off. But thinking now, I'm glad he didn't go into full detail then and there. It was a lot to take in just hearing the word "disease". And he made sure I left the office totally calm and care-free. Thanks Doc. So, anyway, Blounts. He explained that she's going to need braces on her legs to correct it and hopefully help her legs grow in the right direction. Honestly, this whole time he's speaking, I'm totally with it. Calm and cool. I was just taking it all in with a half smile, half confused face on. So, the next step is getting her molded/fitted for her brace. She has an appointment on Thursday for that. And I guess we'll take it from there. Nothing has really sunk in yet. Still preparing for this crazy journey ahead of us. I'll write as I learn more and with each step.
-Heather
No comments:
Post a Comment