We had appointments with General Surgery, Neurology and Rehabilitation today. General surgery is very pleased with how her abdomen is healing and doesn't ever want to see us again!!! We happily concur and sincerely wish Dr. Dean Potter (a Pediatric General Surgeon Fellow on Kenzie's case) very good luck as he moves on to Mayo Clinic in MN-hopefully my friends in Minnesota will NEVER need to meet him but if you do, you are in good sincerly caring hands!!
Neurology is still stumped by her left leg spacticity. They suggest some damage or infection in her spinal cord (not brain since it doesn't present in her left arm too) but this may very likely be a mystery that won't ever be solved, as the best diagnostic tool they have would be an MRI of her spinal cord. With all the hardware in her back from her spinal fusion, an MRI will show beautiful streaks of light across film.
Rehabilitation agrees with the suggestion from neurology about a spinal cord injury but adds the possibility that this could still be an infection that could resolve with the antibiotics... Rehab suggested surgery to release her achillies tendon which seems the least dramatic of all his suggestions otherwise a series of braces that would slowly stretch the tendon to release it and perhaps botox injections (painful and lengthy, very reminiscent of ancient foot binding yuck!) However, when I showed him the position I was most successfully stretching her, he quickly backed off surgery and accused Mackenzie on holding out on him! Surprised at how well she did stretch while laying down rather than in her wheelchair he believes bracing and therapy really may be the best option. We will let the antibiotics run their course (as there still may be a slim chance the spacticity will resolve if it were an infection) and revisit in 6 weeks when her right leg cast is removed.
No comments:
Post a Comment