Sophie Goes To Visit Her Surgeon

Today, bright and early we go to visit Dr. R. (Sophie's Surgeon).

I will try to post a video of her xray.

What a brave Girl you were today!
The head of Sophie's right femur is getting enough blood and growing well. Her acetabulum looks good as well. Plate and four screws still in the same place ;)

We will not have to have another xray of her hip until one year from now. Not out of the woods but getting there.

If the next visit in one year from now looks good then we will not have to have another xray of this area for three years!! Good news.
Compared to our last visit six months ago Sophie's right leg is even more shorter than the left. 1 centimeter difference. Last visit it was 3/4 of a cm.

Sophie receives two new fresh lifts for her shoe and one new leather one. She does not like the new one so she sticks with using the softer one.

The Doctor will watch this closely. If this stays under 2 cm then her treatment will be the same.

If it goes over 2 cm - 6 cm then she will have to have her growth plate of her "healthy leg/left" drilled to stop it from growing so the right leg can catch up. This would be a "day" surgery and she would be able to come home in one day. Most likely this would be around age 11 so the right leg would have a couple of years to grow and catch up until around age 14.

If it becomes a 6 or more then the shorter leg would have to be lengthened but that is a HUGE surgery as it takes many days before you could go home.
Sophie says, "PLEASE I do NOT want a cast......" After the Doctor says some thing like,
"you ready to put a cast on today..."

This brings us to the topic of her Achilles tendon on her right leg. This is because she was born with club feet. Her Achilles tendon is very tight, at the point where she needs to be casted now.

We have had a brace for Sophie to wear for a few months now but have not been "very good" about making her wear it because it makes for a ruff night for all of us. (She is suppose to wear it for a minimum of 8 - 9 hours a night and since she is a light sleeper any ways we have not been pushing it very hard until now.)

The Doctor tells Sophie and Us that if she does not wear the case over the next three days then she has to come back on Monday and have her leg put into a cast. Once in a cast she would have to be re-casted every two weeks. If that does not work then surgery.

The Doctor said it was up to us. We could leave today in a cast or wait until Monday. If she does wear the brace then we could wait to be reevaluated at the start of the school year (September). He usually likes to cast during the winter time.

So here we go sweet GIRL! What a good time to do this, during summer vacation because you do not have to go to school the next day and we can remind you many times during the night while you are having a fit why it is important that you need to keep your brace on....SO your Achilles tendon can stretch and hopefully you will not need surgery.

Here we go.

YOU CAN DO IT SOPHIE!!!!