Liam's Story

One year ago, Liam's life changed. He had Blount's Disease. It is now corrected, and hopefully it will never come back, but what a journey it's been.

We noticed something was wrong with Liam's legs when he was a year old.  He was our early walker-he took his first steps at 9 months old, and was running right after.  We had three other children so we knew what to expect-they start walking, within a couple of months their legs straighten.  Liam's didn't.  Something just didn't look right, so we talked to his pediatrician at his one year check up.  She told us not to worry and sent us on our way. 

At 15 months, Shawn and I just KNEW something wasn't right.  We didn't feel like we were being alarmist, and we refused to take "he'll outgrow it" for an answer.  His pediatrician agreed to send him to an orthopedist for xrays.  After seeing them, that orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Wagner, said he thought Liam had Blount's Disease, but he'd never seen it in a child that young.  He then referred us to see a pediatric orthopedist, Dr. Bixler.  Dr. Bixler did measurements on Liam's bones-he had an 11 degree curve in his tibia.  Nine degrees and lower is never Blount's Disease, 14 degrees and higher is always Blount's.  He was ready to tentatively diagnose Liam with Blount's, but he couldn't be definite until Liam was 2 years old. 

We were told to come back when he turned two to get the necessary measurements.  We were in hurry up and wait mode.

To be continued...

Been a bit

The holidays kept me away for a bit. My dad is heading in for another surgery on Tuesday. He has two abdominal aortic aneurysms that need to be repaired. He's an alcoholic. He's got a bad heart. I'm really worried about it; I'm trying to not stress too much about it, but it's tough.

Liam has one week left in physical therapy-he had an appt last Monday with Dr. Standard. We haven't seen alot of improvement in his plantar flexion or his toe, but there's not much point to continuing PT. I can do it all here. His thighbones are starting to twist. We'll keep an eye on him, but it's not anything for us to worry about at this point.

Josh lost his first tooth on the 22nd. He was so excited! He's gone up two letter levels in reading in the last week and a half. His report card comes out next week. I can't wait to see it. I'm really proud of him :).

Who needs lungs?

I've been sick for 3 weeks-really bad cough. I'm getting really tired of it. Bleh.

Liam's surgery went well.

As the title says, Liam's surgery went well-we couldn't have asked for a better outcome. He's in long casts in a nice bright red. Dr. S decided to do plaster because our little boy can't be contained. The casts are really just a precaution-he's got weak spots in the bone because of the pins; casting helps protect them until that bone heals. It'll take about 2 weeks, then he'll go in soft casts for a week or two, then done. He'll be done by Christmas. It's so strange looking at his legs. I was so used to seeing those parenthesis that were my baby's gorgeous little legs. Now, they are so straight! It's bizarre to see. It's been a long journey, but we're almost there. It's such a relief.

Liam's surgery

Liam will have his fixators removed on Wednesday, 11/26. I was shocked yesterday when we went in and it was offered to us so quickly. My GP is able to do his physical today-it was meant to be. He'll be out of his casts around Christmas. This is going to be a wonderful holiday.

In The Beginning

All of my friends are doing it, why shouldn't I?