Sympathy Pain

I received this email from Lisa Hooks. Her daughter is 10 and has Posteromedial Bowing of the Tibia. I ask her if I could share this, so here it is.

My daughter is now ten, from ages 1 to 3 she went through three different braces. The first one she could take off faster than I could put on but when she was standing, it served its purpose. The next brace worked pretty well. She was starting to get around really good and it did not seem to bother her. The third brace, never really worked. Because of the bend and the different design, the brace seemed to cut into her leg. She hated it. After that we went through a series of lifts. They just made her clumsy. She had learned to adjust better on her own. I found if I had her in high top shoes it gave that ankle some support and kept her from rolling over onto the side of her leg.

One thing is for sure is that there has been nothing certain. It went from, “it does no good to brace this condition” to, “oh my she is standing on the side of her leg she needs a brace”, to “surgery by the time she is two because the bend did not straighten enough” to, “well as long as she is doing ok let’s wait”. And now she is 10. She has always adjusted well on her own and I have never stopped her from doing anything. She took dance when she was little and has been in gymnastics for the past 5 years. Yes, she has some difficulties and, recently, we took her from full gymnastics to just tumbling because the balance beam was not working out. She was just too uneven. But even now, she can’t run as fast as she use to and that is making flips and cartwheels very difficult, but she refuses to stop, so I let her go.

I don’t know where you live or if it said I don’t remember, but she has been going to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, NC since birth and two times I have taken her for a second opinion at Duke University. They have different opinions on when the surgery should take place, UNC says still wait two more years at least and Duke said 5cm was a large discrepancy and they would do something now, even if it meant having to do it twice. I only recently learned of the Shiners’ Hospital for Children and that they may actually be able to help her and in an environment that would hopefully be more calming for her. I am still kind of spinning around but I just want to do the best thing and not have missed the boat and have other problems begin to occur.

I hope your journey goes smooth, it is a life long journey, we were told that early on. And I know we are lucky to not have had anything more serious to deal with but that doesn’t make me any less dedicated to doing the very best for her, whatever that may turn out to be. Again, my best advice would be to let him do whatever he wants. My daughter has always been the best judge of her limitations. Just because the Dr. may have said to do it, if it didn’t work for her, we told him because, apparently, there is no rule on how to treat this condition. Great to have made contact with you.