Did I mention my son had to attempt a cartwheel in these dance auditions? Yes, it was a true test indeed!
When we returned to see the surgeon, he was a little more concerned now. The MRI mentioned that there were signs that indicated he may have the beginnings of Osteochondritis Disseccans. I asked the surgeon about that, and he told us, definitely not, it was too rare. He felt that perhaps my son’s issues were rheumatologic in nature (arthritis). He referred us to see a Pediatric Rheumatologist in the hospital in less than a week. We were concerned. How can a child this young (just turned 14) have such debilitating pain?
The Rheumatology appointment did not go well. After spending well over two hours in the office, the Rhematologist told me he thought my son was suffering from a psychosomatic illness. Despite the fact that the problems only happened when he was weight-bearing on his leg. He asked a lot of questions about wanting to miss school (never), feeling sad (not at all), poor grades (mostly a straight-A student), etc. Nothing fit, yet the Rheumatologist was convinced of his diagnosis. I have to say, this was one of the most stressful days of my life.
In the end, we decided the Rheumatolgist was wrong, and took our son back to his primary care doctor. She felt maybe he had femoral patella syndrome and recommended a more aggressive physical therapy approach. So we started 12 weeks of physical therapy, three times a week. After 6 weeks of no improvement, we called the surgeon in St. Louis and requested a referral to someone else. He referred us to a Physiatrist (specializes usually in post-surgery rehabilitation), but that appointment was 6 weeks away.
My husband felt we should have a friend of his that lived in Memphis to take a look. She is a very smart medicine-pediatrics doctor, and actually graduated at the top of her medical school class. We didn’t tell her initially about the other appointments, x-rays or tests. We wanted a fresh start. She examined him and said, “I think it is Osteochondritis Dissecans”. We let her look at the MRI, and she felt even more sure. She referred us to a surgeon at the renowned Campbell Clinic in Memphis.
A week later, with hopeful expectations, we saw yet another surgeon. My son had several more x-rays done at the clinic. The doctor reveiwed the x-rays and MRI and then spent about 15 minutes with us. He was sure he had patella femoral syndrome and encouraged us to keep up the physical therapy. We again asked about Osteochondritis Dissecans and again, we were told no, just not possible.