Scottish Rite

Yesterday was Clark's 1st appointment at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.  We were originally working with an orthopedist at Scott and White, but they no longer have a pediatric specialist on staff so we decided to transfer care to Scottish Rite.  Scottish Rite is world renown for the treatment of pediatric orthopedic problems so I was pretty excited to meet Clark's new doctor, Dr John Birch.

First of all, I have to say that the staff in and around the hospital were amazing.  Having spent so much time in a hospital this year, and feeling like we had received excellent care there, I was shocked at what a pleasant experience we had yesterday.  Everyone we met was kind.  That rarely happens when you go to the doctor.  When we met with Clark's primary nurse, Emily, and Dr Birch, it felt like they had been waiting all day just to see Clark.  When does it EVER feel that way at the doctor?  Needless to say, I was impressed.

Ok, so...let me get to the part about when Clark was evaluated.  At first we met with an orthopedic nurse practitioner who gave him a thorough exam, primarily focusing on his left hip.  Then we went down the hall to have an ultrasound on his hip.  They use ultrasound instead of xray because his bones haven't hardened yet.  After that we went back into the area where we'd seen the ONP and met with Clark's nurse, Emily, and also Dr Birch.  There were 5 people in the room during the doctor's exam, the ONP, Emily, Dr Birch, a visiting doctor from Spain and some random guy who (I'm assuming) was a staff doctor.

After all of that, Dr Birch said he'd like to try the Pavlik harness again.  I was all for it, for two reasons.  Firstly, because I don't think he got enough of a chance in it the 1st time, not to mention I was not educated about the harness and how it works by the previous doctor.  And secondly, the other two options involve casting and surgery, respectively.  I think we'll give the harness another go, thank-you-very-much.

What that involves is 23 hours a day in a pavlik harness.  It essentially looks like lederhosen with some stirrups for his feet.  I'm assuming you've got a strange mental picture right now...that's ok, you'll get a picture later here's a picture (my camera just arrived!!!).   Also, we'll see Dr Birch every week for at least a month to see if any progress is being made.

The doctor told us there's every chance it might not work, but it's worth it to give it a try.  There is more risk of damage to the blood supply with the other methods, so we're praying that this works.  If it doesn't the next thing they will try is manually putting the hip in place and then putting him in a cast.

He didn't sleep very well last night, being in the harness is a big adjustment.  Hopefully he'll get a little more comfortable in it.  We go back to Dallas next Thursday to see the doctor again.