Saturday, September 29, 2007
Children and Chronic Pain
I can deal with my own limited abilities, but I really have a hard time when children are going through the same thing. We accept that adults will suffer more pains as they grow older. Children should never be pain though!
One of my 11 year old relatives was diagnosed with OCD (osteochondroitis dissecans) last March. After many tests, they determined their was a fracture in the ball of her femur. In OCD, the fracture doesn't heal. She couldn't walk without pain and her knee kept catching on the notch and locking up.
The first course of action was physical therapy. She seemed to do really well with that. After a month of crutches, she no longer needed them. It appeared that the doctors did the right thing.
Right after 4th of July everything changed. Her knee started popping again. And, then she was back on crutches and in pain.
The doctor decided it was time for surgery. The idea was the explore around maybe insert some pins and drill some holes. With OCD they are never sure what the outcome will be after surgery, but she couldn't walk anyway so they had to take the chance.
In August, she had outpatient surgery. They removed some tissue that was in the wrong place. They drilled small holes around the fracture to assist healing. She went home and spent 8 weeks non-weight bearing on crutches.
She's now in physical therapy. She's got some pain but now it's different pain. Only time will tell if the surgery heals her OCD. It's possible it may never heal fully and then she might face a life of disability. Things are looking good so far.
After going through what I've gone through, I hope to God she will heal! No child should have to go through this kind of discomfort. Children should never have to deal with chronic pain.
One of my 11 year old relatives was diagnosed with OCD (osteochondroitis dissecans) last March. After many tests, they determined their was a fracture in the ball of her femur. In OCD, the fracture doesn't heal. She couldn't walk without pain and her knee kept catching on the notch and locking up.
The first course of action was physical therapy. She seemed to do really well with that. After a month of crutches, she no longer needed them. It appeared that the doctors did the right thing.
Right after 4th of July everything changed. Her knee started popping again. And, then she was back on crutches and in pain.
The doctor decided it was time for surgery. The idea was the explore around maybe insert some pins and drill some holes. With OCD they are never sure what the outcome will be after surgery, but she couldn't walk anyway so they had to take the chance.
In August, she had outpatient surgery. They removed some tissue that was in the wrong place. They drilled small holes around the fracture to assist healing. She went home and spent 8 weeks non-weight bearing on crutches.
She's now in physical therapy. She's got some pain but now it's different pain. Only time will tell if the surgery heals her OCD. It's possible it may never heal fully and then she might face a life of disability. Things are looking good so far.
After going through what I've gone through, I hope to God she will heal! No child should have to go through this kind of discomfort. Children should never have to deal with chronic pain.
# posted by Mel @ 5:45 PM 
