Legg Perthes Progression Pictures

We went back to Scottish Rite on March 10th.  Bean is identified as a FULL "C" designation.  That means that this is about as bad as it can get with Legg Perthes.  HOWEVER!  Because she is INDEED a "C"...and because it is very controversial whether surgery actually HELPS a "C" designation with best outcome...they do NOT want to pursue surgery at this time and OUR surgeon doctor said considering that she WAS a "C" it was not so bad that we hadn't done the surgery after all .  On top of all of that...they don't want to see us for 9 months!  Can I get a PRAISE THE LORD???

No offense to Scottish Rite...they are AWESOME...but I don't WANT to go there.  I don't like it.  It makes me stressed and scared and doubtful and brings me face to face with my biggest fears for several weeks before our trip.  Nevermind the emotional turmoil that my baby girl goes through.  The fact that they think she is stable enough to wait 9 months to see her...makes my heart glad.  No, we still don't know what else will happen.  Yes, if she has any injury or if anything comes up, we are to call immediately...but other than that, they are happy to let it run it's course...

I did get the X-Rays and thought I would give you a progression of the hip from the time Scottish Rite first saw it in April 2007...we were first diagnosed in March of 2007...but had probably had it for a couple months prior to that...her first chiropractic adjustment due to the limp was in February 2007.

Here is the first X-ray in April 2007.  Notice how much smaller the left femoral head (the ball in the socket there) is than the right.  The separation in the femoral head that looks like a crack is actually her growth plate...those will close as she grows but in a 7 year old kid (at the time) she still has a lot of growing to do.

In May the femoral head is a little bit smaller...but notice how strange the growth plate looks...I didn't really notice it while we were looking at the first time...but knowing how far we are NOW...it looks suspiciously unstable to my slightly more trained eye. 

Due to several botched appointments we didn't get back to Scottish Rite until December of 2007...and this is what saw...and what spurred my distress.

Notice that the top portion of the femoral head is basically gone...there is some excess bone in there, but it is virtually to the growth plate.  Also notice that what is left is sitting slightly outside the socket...it was/is causing poor outward mobility...no side kicks for Beanie.

And here we are in March...it's hard to see in this version of the X-ray...we had to crop a bit because even in an X-ray the pictures of the entire pelvis are too graphic...but the extra bone is pretty much cleared out and we are AT the growth plate.  Our doctor says that it can't break down much farther...so hopefully we'll start rebuilding bone in this next 9 months.

So that is where we are.  We will continue to supplement minerals in hope that her body will have the nutrients that she will need to regrow this.  We will continue to keep her back as straight as we can so that she can have the most comfortable recovery possible and we will just keep praying.

Please keep us in your prayers.

See you around.