Phone call from Dr. Nulte

Yesterday we got our phone call from Dr. Nulte. He spoke with Dr. Anthony Stans, Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon, from Mayo in regards to Elly's case. They came up with 4 options for Harry and I.

1. Putting Elly into a cast. Is this absolutely necessary? It is the safest route and it will prevent anymore trauma and/or a bigger break to occur. She would be in the cast for 2 weeks. They would have to take Elly to the operating room to put the cast on and take her back to the operating room to take it off. During this time she would need a specialized car seat, someone to take care of her special needs and hygiene. The cast would be from her upper torso to her knees on both sides.

2. Keep Elly low-key and keep her off her leg for 2 weeks. This is nearly impossible as she has started to use it again and without us even trying to encourage her. A kid will be a kid. Also, pray hard that if we don't do anymore that she doesn't have future problems with her leg.

3. We can take her to Mayo and have Dr. Stans evaluate her himself. He would be more then happy to do this for us.

4. Have a MRI done to see if there is anything else going on to be concerned about for the future. This would consist of sedating her for the MRI so that she is perfectly still.

I asked Dr. Nulte if a child's bones are not completely developed at the age of 1 and they are still suppose to be spongy then how did this happen to Elly. He said that this was the million dollar question and since Elly can't talk and tell us what is going on that it even harder to try and decide what is going on. He feels that there had to be a big trauma to her leg to make this happen. Does that mean that she fell, a kid fell on her leg, or something else. No one will ever probably know why.

I asked if he felt that she was malnourished or needing something else since this happened so easily to her. He felt that she was completely healthy and that we were doing everything we could for her.

I also asked if he had ever seen this kind of break in another child or an adult. He said that he had seen it in older pediatric kids but that the break was much longer that went into their thigh bone. Never just a break in the lesser trochanter. He said that he had seen it in an adult but it was only in males of age 80-90 years of age that had prostate cancer.

After much discussion, Harry and I have decided that we want to try and keep Elly out of a cast for many reasons. She would be miserable not being able to move and just miserable in general. Also, we are concerned for her not using her muscles for that period of time if that might have an effect on her. We are, however, going to get a referral and take her to Mayo to see Dr. Stans. At that time, if he feels that she needs an MRI to make sure that all is ok we will do the MRI. We feel that this will be trauma long-term on Elly. I made a call into the clinic yesterday to get the referral but the nurse that does these were already gone for the day. So we are waiting for a call back from her and then I will need to call Mayo and get her appointment made. We are hoping that they will get us in sooner then later.

Elly is using her leg more and more each day. She can walk now without support but she still has a limp, her leg is still somewhat stiff and her foot is pointed out a little. All things to take into consideration. She can do all the other functions just fine. She can crawl, squat, sit on her knees without any problems. It is just that darn walking that is hanging her up a little.

Harry and I are hanging in there. Just praying that we make the right choices. We were on the phone most of last night consulting with our parents and seeing what they thought.

Will keep you updated as we know more. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers during this time of uncertainty and concern.