Dr appt update!

For the first time since this all started I really and truly feel hopeful about the situation. We saw Dr. Beckish again today. Today he was in no rush, he actually sat on the patient table and talked with us for a good 10-15 minutes about everything. When we first arrived he asked us what was going on and I explained about the spasms. He asked if they were waking him up...I said yes. He checked his ROM (range of motion) and he made mention to the resident that was with him that the it was further decreased by 20% internal and external by 10%. He wanted to take more xrays since we were there....he said they were more or less the same. He said that basically perthes was a "catch 22". On one hand, if we limit his activity he is not in as much pain but his ROM will further decrease, leading to possibly surgery to release tendons in the groin....on the other hand, by letting him be as active as he wants to be (running, jumping, climbing, bike, etc) that he will be in pain but it will most likely keep his ROM good. He said he would rather see him have a day or two of pain for every 2 or 3 days of good activity vs him become further limited in his ROM. This makes perfect sense, and I basically was reading the same thing to Joey last night off of the internet. He said that 10 years ago when he went thru medical school that you braced or casted every child but that now studies showed that in most cases one doesn't make any difference over the other. He said that in the years that he has practiced he has never braced or casted a child...traction, yes, but none of the other. He said, of course, every case is different and it's not to say that it could never happen but most likely not. We are quite pleased to hear this....but the only down side for us will be to deal with a pain increase for Dalton. He was a little more active on Saturday than he has been and Sunday afternoon and evening was rough. Three episodes of screaming with spasms and a very sore leg. He was going to write him a rx for v@lium but I told him about the Cl0nidine that the ped had written and he said to most definetly give that to him that he had no problems at all with that medication it would help him. I told him that I saw no difference in giving him 3 doses of motrin a day and he said if he had a spasm to give the motrin immediately and for 2 days following, otherwise not to give it to him if I couldn't see a difference.

So all in all I think it was a good appointment....we'll see soon enough how things go with allowing him to be more active. He's not been too active since his appt in Charleston earlier this month so we do look for an pain increase..but at least we know this will be normal and it's not necessarily a bad thing (meaning worsening of the disease). He also said that he would consider Dalton in the fragmentation stage...so the next stage for us would be that blood flow would return and then new bone growth...But it's a lengthy process so it could be 12-18 months before this starts.

We just ask that you continue to keep us in your prayers!