The splint is pretty weightless and when she was put in it again, after the adjustments, she was fine. Here are a couple of pictures of her new harness. It actually looks a lot worse that what it is.
The inconvenience is more on us, the parents; each time there is a diaper change we have to take it off, but at least we are able to put pants on her now.
A few days after Eli received her second harness we had a follow up visit with Dr. Malhis. He confirmed our appointment at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) and told us he had referred us to the doctor in charge of the orthopedic department (Dr. Skaggs), which is great. Getting a second opinion from one of the top doctors!
Our appointment was last Friday at CHLA and it was interesting. Some of you may know that my brother, Jacob, had a hip injury when he was about 7 years old and had to be in and out of the hospital (CHLA) for about a year, due to surgeries and castings. Twenty-five years later I return with my daughter to the same department. The doctor who attended to my brother is no longer there but a nurse remembered him. CHLA has changed so much since I was last there, for the better. The staff is very friendly which was great because our appointment took a lot longer than anticipated.
Dr. Skaggs did a physical exam on Eli's hips and said that her left hip felt normal, just like the right one! Great news! He needed an ultrasound to complete his exam and to give his recommendation/diagnoses. Unfortunately, we had an authorization for x-rays. We took the x-rays that had been taken since January and Dr. Skaggs had already reviewed them. The ultrasound allows for him to see cartilage and the x-rays do not. They told us that instead of having us drive back and forth, we could stick around for an hour or two so the authorization could go through. Needless to say, four hours later and no authorization. It turns out that our medical group could not get their act together and get it signed off in a timely manner. We had to leave due to another pending appointment. At around 4:15 pm we got the call from CHLA that authorization had come through and we had an appointment with Dr. Skaggs and the ultrasound department on Monday morning.
I was not able to go, so Mark went with Eli. The ultrasound tech did not know how to do the ultrasound with the harness on so the x-ray doctor did it, which worked in our favor. While scanning, the doctor told Mark that the hip looked normal, just like the right one and exactly where it should be for Eli's age....YAY! Even though we got the news from her, we still had to hear it from Dr. Skaggs. By the time they were done with the ultrasound Dr. Skaggs had to leave to his other office; the ultrasound department took a while. Mark was told that he would call that afternoon or the next morning.
Dr. Skaggs call Mark the next morning at 7 AM and confirmed that Eli's hip did in fact look typical and there was no difference between her left and right hip....thank you Jesus! He went on to ask when was she diagnosed, how long has she worn the two different harnesses and how many hours a day does she wear it. What he recommended to do was for her to only wear it when for 12 hours a day, which means, when she goes to bed at night. Within a month we are due to go back to see him an hopefully no more harness! Keep them prayers coming!
No comments:
Post a Comment