Second Opinion

Today me, my Mom and Alex's nurse, Tammy, drove up to UVA Hospital in Charlottesville for a second opinion regarding surgery.  I really liked the orthopedic doctor that we saw there - he was kind, he did a very thorough examination of Alex and answered all of our questions.  He really could not have been any nicer.  Alex, however, maybe didn't like the things he had to say so her body language was quite "stand offish" to him.  She really does crack me up with how sassy she can be sometimes!

My big girl is now 68 pounds and 4 feet 8 inches (and three quarters!) tall.   (She couldn't be any more pink if we tried - I kept telling her she looked like a big piece of bubble gum - and she kept looking at me like, YOU'RE the one who dressed me!)

The long short of the story is that despite all of our best efforts with casting this summer and therapy and constant stretching, Alex still has a significant crouched gait and she's going to require surgery.  Both doctors concurred that her hamstrings are extremely tight and so she's going to need hamstring lengthening and posterior capsulotomies behind her knees.

 

Once her appointment at UVA was over we headed back to Richmond in time to make it to her physical therapy appointment with Shannon.  We discussed the pros and the cons of having the surgery here vs. in Charlottesville so I have a bit of homework to do.  One of the MAJOR differences is that one doctor wants to cast for 6-8 weeks (again, flashbacks to our dreaded summer) while the other doctor says 3-4 weeks in casts (the casts will be from her ankles to the top of her thighs) and then braces.

 

A few posts back I mentioned that we were denied Alex's custom walker from our insurance company.  Much to our surprise last Friday Aaron took Alex to therapy and guess what showed up? 

 

 

 (Well, she actually looks like a big piece of bubble gum here too - must lay off the pink clothes!)

 

She is doing SO good trying to walk in her walker - and she actually LIKES it!  Every time I put her in it she smiles from ear to ear.  It has GOT to feel so good to actually get up and get moving from sitting in her chair all day.  You can definitely see how bent her legs stay while she's in her walker - which is a huge part of the problem. 

 

Thankfully, it has been a really long time since we've had to have any kind of surgical interventions.  I have a call into the doctor here in town to discuss a few of my questions/concerns so hopefully we'll have something scheduled soon.  

 

I LOVE to see this smile and I HATE to think back to where we were in the summer.  Hopefully since this casting isn't forcing a stretch, she wont be as miserable.  Additionally, the doctor said he would prescribe some narcotics and Valium which will make it much more tolerable....I wonder if he was talking about prescribing that for me, or her?!?