Well, here we are. Having our first meeting with dr Paley behind us. The news are worse than we expected though.
The doctor said Flo’s knee is stiff, meaning he did not detect any movement ability. It is bent, but even if he surgically straightens it, it remains stiff, causing many difficulities with her mobility.
He mentioned three ways of treatment.
1. Reconstruction and lenghtening, which in his opinion is of little sense, because of little function of such leg. The leg will be weak and stiff. It will be difficult for Flo to walk (stairs), sit, fit in small places (cars, cinema seats etc). The point of having her own, but disfunctional leg, at the cost of years of pain, family separation, lots of money, wearing fixators, and financial dependency on the treatment for whole life, is to be discussed. There is an option of replacing the knee when she’s grown up. But she would have to replace such knee repeatedly (up to 20 years depending on her mobility and activity).
2. Prosthesis with foot amputation, without limb lenghtening. The prosthesis starts on the knee level, replacing her foot. Scary. Yes. But after one surgery she would lead a normal life, more or less, being able to play, run, go to school trips, buy herself cool things when growing up.
3. Prosthesis with rotationplasty. Meaning, she would use a 180 degree rotated foot as a knee joint. Prosthesis goes on the knee level, but the ankle is bending the “knee”. Weird? But in some cases, it’s the best choice. You do not remove anything after all. It is also done by a single surgery, getting back to life as soon as the rehabilitation is done.
What now? Well, nothing. We are waiting till she’s two, then we do the MRI and see more of what happens meanwhile. And only after we know it, do we see the doctor and make decisions. We are collecting money for the treatment, because no matter what the choice will be, the hip, knee and foot have to be treated. There is also an insignificant chance, that untill then, some changes in the knee occur, allowing it to move and bent. Dr Paley does not believe it, but he can not tell for extra sure that it won’t happen. It’s like a lottery: you can feel like a winner until you check the results. ;) So we must keep living on the victory, no matter how impossible it seems. And our victory is Flo herself.
Good thing is, that she can try to walk on an orthotics.
Well, we’re going out, to say goodbye to the Marseille. Its sun is fading.
annaxmalina
germansingergirl
gummygunk
izzy806