Mommio: Connor's Legs

Connor had an appointment with his orthopedist today, Dr. Shapiro at CTPO .  We haven't been there in six months and Connor has grown a lot since then so we fully expected him to need another surgery to replace rods in one or both of his legs just due to growth.  That didn't happen- the rods still look great, they are long enough and have not moved out of position.  Good news!  The other news is that Connor now has a leg length difference of 3cm.- which is enough to be concerned about since it causes all sorts of problems for his back, knees and ankles.  He also has a major alignment problem with his upper left leg- due to the disease in the femoral neck.  You can see in these xrays the difference from the one taken in 2007 (on the top) and the one taken today (on the bottom).

His upper left leg is definitely bowing out more, and you can see that the pressure in also turning his ankle in.  So, at this point our doctor wants us to consult with another one at his office to discuss all our options.  We might need to straighten the leg first then work on the length difference. We might ignore the alignment issues and just work on the length issues.  We might just leave it alone.  The first two options will involve numerous surgeries and other procedures.  Leaving it alone will increase the pressure on his joints and cause painful arthritis.  We will be consulting with both doctors over the next month and see what happens.  Connor has reached an age where he is very interested in helping making these decisions so hopefully he will post about his feelings on the subject too.