A very quick Ortho update

I just had a nice talk with a friend. Actually nice talks with 3 friends today. I've said it at least 20 times today about Owen's Orthopedic appointment... "I don't want to talk about it." And I still don't. I also know that a lot of people are thinking about and praying for our family and who really care about Owen. Those people deserve to know the gist of what happened. I apologize that all I can give you right now is the gist. This has bowled me over, left me sad, confused and hurting. Oh and very angry, with no one to aim that anger at.

Owen sees his Orthopedic surgeon once a year for follow ups for his congenital short femur. They take x-ray, measure his body as well as his bones on the x-rays. Last year his femur was about 2 1/2 cm short and his tibia was maybe 1 cm short. The tibia has never ever been a concern. His doctor had every reason to believe that it would be left alone. Wrong.

Three main things happened today, all of which are very upsetting to me as his mother. 1.) His tibia is now 2 cm short and will also have to be lengthened. Twice. 2.) His doctor is considering doing the surgeries at different times than she originally though. Instead of 8ish and 14ish, she is now considering 5ish and 9ish. I can't even talk about all of the reasons that a leg lengthening for my 5 year old makes me cringe and want to be sick. Last year, it was something that was being done by some surgeons in the orthopedic community, but his doctor wasn't convinced. Today she told me she has done it quite a bit and Owen may be a candidate for early lengthening. 3.) Owen was born without an ACL in his left leg. As Owen's body has grown and developed, his orthopedist has been able to gain more and more information from his body. Today was the first time she knew that both bones would be lengthened, and that the weakness in his knee could be an issue with that. She will have to worry about subluxation of his knee.

I'm sorry, that is all I can manage for now. Intellectually I can process these things and have very rational thoughts. Emotionally I am a wreck. One of the things I hear a lot is "it could be worse". Do people think I don't know that? Guess what, this is MY worst, OUR worst. Please try to understand that.