Sunday, February 13, 2011

Dr. Jess saves the day!! (understatement)
















It's been 3 weeks now since Jaxson went for a lay up in the middle of his basketball game and came down on his knee and it twisted and gave out on him. He's been on crutches with a little wrap on it until Dr. Jess came through and after playing with it told us we should take it in for an MRI.
After the first day, Jaxson really didn't complain that it hurt and it seemed to be getting better, but I took Jax into a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Pence, based on Jess' recommendation(Thanks again Jess or who knows how long it would have been ignored!). The X-ray (second picture) came back clear with nothing broken and then after the MRI (first picture, notice the black line connecting one bone to the other? That is the posterior ligament and there should be another crossing over, but it's nowhere to be found) they scheduled a follow up the next week but said if it was anything too bad they would call us earlier. Well we heard nothing and went in last Thursday for the follow up expecting good news and Dr. Pence started off by saying, "It's not good!"




(The third picture-MRI, shows the bone and all the black dots on the bone are bruising and should be very painful, luckily it's not. If I remember right, all the black stuff is the swelling fluid)
Sure enough he tore is Anterior Cruciate Ligament and normally they go in right away to surgically repair it, however, they make the repair through the growth plate and if they did that at this age, it would affect his growth. So, he will have a sports brace made up for him when the swelling goes all the way down and he will have to continually be fitted for a new one until they are able to do the surgery, atleast age 14, but maybe even later.
Jaxson hung his head pretty low and asked how it will affect him playing and his sports etc. The Dr. was very kind and understanding and said they would be doing physical therapy on and off for the next several years to help keep his mucles strong but that he can still play, but will have to keep the brace on and be careful and it may slow him down a bit.
It was a hard moment thinking of why it happened when this normally doesn't happen to kids and what we could have done, what could have been etc. Dr. said it was just bad luck! As we left, we saw a boy just younger than him with an amputated leg and it hit us both that we need to be thankful for the blessings we have and make the best of this situation.
Later, we heard that John Elway tore his ACL when younger and even played a superbowl with a torn ACL, so it gave Derek and Jax a little hope that Jaxson's future with sports isn't over.
We just have to trust in the process at this point and know the Lord is in control and what happens is for the best and meant to be...only the future will show the silver lining that seems a little dark at the time!

2 comments:

Carrie said...

WOW! I'm praying for Jax and your family. He's one tough cookie.

Our Three Sons said...

Poor kid. I tore my ACL and medial meniscus when I was a senior in HS playing soccer and had surgery that summer after I graduated. Hope things start getting better for him!