Third time lucky

We have finally had an appointment with the right team (woohoo!). Our appointment was at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, admittedly I had never heard of this hospital before. But after some googling of the hospital, and the consultant we are under I hoped we were finally in the right place ... and we were!

The first surprise when we arrived was that the parking was free ... I mean how many hospital have free parking? ... I work at a hospital and have to pay to park there ... so this almost felt like a late Christmas present. 

Obviously I ensured we arrived early (a whole hour early to be exact) and wondered up to the outpatients to check in. Once checked in we decided to go and get a drink to kill a bit of time. I also felt like I needed to keep 'busy' and drinking a nice hot chocolate seemed like the best idea to help ease my nerves and make we feel like I was doing something - feeling anxious is a funny thing isn't it, why does keeping your hands busy help you feel better?! I'm sure there is a proper psychological answer out there.

Our appointment time came about, and we were met by a lovely doctor. I think you can always tell when someone works with children. They seem to have a nice calm, friendly and relaxed manner. He spoke to myself, my husband and interacted with our son as well. Immediately I felt at ease and the next few words that left is mouth made me instantly relax. He said 'Well, just by looking at him I can see he has a congenital abnormality' .... I literally thought 'am I hearing right' 'does he actually have something definite to tell us?'. The other doctors we have spoken to have all been absolutely lovely they just were very clear they had no expertise in this sort of thing. 

Anyway after a little examination of his legs (it was felt there might be some discrepancy in leg length), he asked about the scans, his birth, how he had been. He asked a question that I didn't think would be important, but after speaking and sharing other parents experiences I definitely think it is. He asked 'did you know about his foot before or was it a surprise?' - not the most medical of questions but actually, probably one of the most important. 

After the examination we were sent off to x-ray ... my son loved it. Loads of men and women to talk to and smile at. He even made a point of leaning right over to 'read' the magazine of the lady next to us. Kids do have this magical way of making the unordinary just seem super normal don't they. 

Anyway, back to the consultant we went. On the x-rays he measured his femur and tib and fib length. There was marginal difference, and therefore he concluded that the leg length is the same - such relief. I had been so scared he would need leg lengthening surgery or whether having shorter bones in one leg to the other would mean more problems later on in life. I hadn't googled any of this as I didn't want to read all the worst case scenarios. His heel pad is smaller, which is whats probably making the discrepancy when he stands. He definitely has a heel and ankle bone. The consultant is certain that he will walk on it - when, he doesn't know. It will be when he is ready and has figured out how to use it. 

There doesn't seem to be any need for any sort of surgery unless we run into any functional problems later on down the line. His little foot does have a sort of 'name' - its called a Boyd amputation. Its not exactly what he has but it is similar. 

What does this mean now? Well, we have been referred to a specialist in prosthetics and amputations to help make the decision as to whether he needs orthotics or prosthetics. Within this referral comes physiotherapy - something I thought we might need. 

As far as genetics go, he is happy for our GP to refer us (and if they are not, he is happy to write the letter). Again, we knew about probably needing genetics but nothing has come of it yet. This would be to find out if he has something or whether future pregnancies could have limb differences (don't get to excited the Aunty Emmas', its more for him than us 😀). 

So this is where we are, we are not under the right hospital and team and we will be seen in due course. I'm not sure I would have been able to tell you what I was expecting from the appointment, but I think the above pretty much sums yup what I would have liked to have heard.