Found a New Doctor

Josh went back to the doctor on September 23 for his 6 month check up and new x-rays. I was really holding out hope that his legs had improved. Bad news is that there hasn't been much change in the six months that he has been wearing the braces. Even more bad news is the doctor was completely disrespectful and didn't give us any answers or make a plan and in fact sort of just walked out of the room and never returned like he said he was going to. Basically he told us that there hadn't been any improvement in his legs and that he wanted to have a blood test done to see if he had Rickets. What? That's when he disappeared from the room and didn't return. The nurse came in with the blood work form and said we were free to go. Completely unacceptable! How can a doctor just walk out and not explain anything to you or give you some treatment options, something! Needless to say I was a mess. My emotions immediately went on overdrive. I'm sad that for the last six months Josh has had to wear braces (and why hasn't it worked?), I'm angry at the doctor for being so self centered and not caring about Josh and us, and I'm scared for what the future may hold.

That night Greg and I decided that we should get a second opinion. The next day I called the Children's Hospital of Richmond and found a doctor who could see us almost immediately. Our appointment was today. I also went and picked up a copy of Josh's medical records and a copy of his x-rays. I'm done with that doctor!

Fast forward to today....

Today we saw Dr. Kuester at MCV. She confirmed that Josh does in fact have Blount's disease and her opinion is that his legs have improved slightly since the first set of x-rays six months ago. A slight improvement is better than none. She recommends that we keep the braces on for at least another year before we make another plan. Typically kids of Josh's age show improvement by now, however, everyone is different. We will stick with it for another 4 months and then get another set of x-rays done. Hopefully we will start to see more improvement soon. I really liked Dr. K. She was respectful of our feeling and answered all of my questions.

I really wish this disease was more cut and dry and not so much wait and see. I pray every day that this treatment will work. Keep those prayers coming!