In Which Connor Needs Another Part Recall

Well that was a fun doctor's appointment.

I called to make an appointment to get Connor's school paperwork filled out and also because I figured I'd better get his knee checked out.  I thought they'd get me an appointment some time in the next couple of weeks, but when the woman making the appointment heard about Connor's knee she kind of freaked out and insisted we get an appointment for tonight.  So off we went.

We ended up having to call on the way there and reschedule for a later appointment time because traffic was so bad, but we made it to our second appointment and were whisked off to see the pediatrician.  He asked us to leave the school paperwork at the desk, and then took a look at Connor's left knee.  He actually visibly cringed when the leg popped out. 

"Whoa," he said.  "His knee is really messed up."

This is always what you want to hear coming out of a pediatrician's mouth.

He said that it looks like Connor's experiencing "tibial subluxation," which essentially means "shin bone partially dislocates," and that it is both "passive and active," meaning "the doctor can make it happen and Connor can do it to himself."  He said that it should hurt like a son of a gun every time Connor does it, too, so either the kid has some really weird nerves in there or an insanely high pain tolerance.  This is why I didn't think it was that big a deal-- the kid pops it out twenty or more times a day and doesn't even flinch.  I think that thanks to Connor's seizures my bar for what consists of an emergency is set so darn high now that I'm much less likely than the average parent to deem something a big problem if it doesn't involve bleeding, screaming or imminent death.  Cue the Mommy guilt trip.

So we have a referral to the orthopedist, who I'm supposed to call on Sunday to get an appointment.  The pediatrician refused to speculate on what exactly Connor would potentially need because it's "not his field," but he did say that at the very least he would expect the little guy to need a brace, or possibly some other more invasive measure because his knee "really has some crazy stuff going on in there."  If he ends up getting a knee brace (or two, though his right shin seems to stay where it should so far), then combined with his ankle-foot orthotics and back brace it's going to look like this kid is armor plated.  Of course, I'd much rather do a brace than surgery any day, so if a brace is what we need, sign us up.  Maybe we can get one with flame-decorated velcro like his other braces so it'll look like he has a matching set.  We can give him a superhero name to go with it.  Orthotic Wonder Boy has a nice ring to it.  Or maybe Semi-Flexible Plastic Kid. 

Glorious.


~Jess