Ah, the saga of Sydney's right knee continues. Let's recap her jour-knee (sorry, had to ;):
June 2019- Sydney hurt her leg in a basketball game. Visit to ER; x-ray shows no obvious injury. 3 days later, orthopedic visit shows a fracture on her tibia in x-ray. She's in a brace for about 6 weeks.
August-early October 2019- Sydney is playing soccer like normal, even running a 5K race. All is okay, except she feels like her knee is loose and could pop out at anytime.
October 2019- While playing in the yard, Sydney's knee gets completely dislocated. It popped back into place when we lifted her to put her in the car to go to the ER.
October 2019-January 2020- Since we witnessed the dislocation, she is put back in her brace/crutches and has to do a few months of PT.
April 2020- While playing basketball in the neighborhood, she felt her knee pop, like it went out of place and back in. Her knee was swollen for a few days. We had called the orthopedic, but they were taking emergencies only at this point in the COVID timeline.
July 2020 (and 6 days before starting middle school): Sydney was at basketball camp, turned a corner while dribbling, and felt her knee pop in and back out (a term we have learned is called a subluxation). Off to the orthopedic we go, and this time they do a specific angle of an x-ray to confirm that her kneecap did dislocate. Once they confirmed it dislocated again, they sent her for an MRI.
Her kneecap has settled too far to the left- it should be over to the right to fit more like a puzzle piece.
This is pre-surgery- you can tell her right knee is swollen.
August 2020- The MRI results showed a lot of damage, including a torn MPFL (the ligament that holds your kneecap in place); stretched tendons; broken off cartilage; her kneecap wasn't lined up correctly anymore. He said all of these are signs that she had multiple dislocations. The doc said that surgery would be needed, and he referred us to a CHOA orthopedic surgeon.
August 2020- The doctor we met with was fantastic. He had reviewed the MRI and confirmed what the other doctor had said would be needed. He got her on the calendar the next week for surgery!
August 20, 2020- We headed down to Sandy Springs bright and early- she had the first surgery of the day. Of course, everyone at CHOA was fantastic and made the whole stressful morning much better with regular updates and kindness. The surgery was a success- they actually replaced her torn MPFL with a donor ligament, and he straightened out her knee and fixed any stretched tendons and the cartilage. He was very pleased with the procedure.
Back at home began the tougher process... the recovery!
We're still in the midst of it all, but this was what we were told:
-One week of no school, regular icing, little to no pressure. Leg had to be kept straight in her big brace. Crutches had to be used anytime she walked on it. PT was to begin within 3 days.
-After a 2 weeks (and a glowing follow-up appointment), Sydney could come off of the crutches, but still had to be in the big brace. PT was going on twice a week, and within a week she went from being able to bend her leg at a 21 degree angle to 93 degrees.
-After 4 weeks, she was seen again and was able to move to a smaller brace that allows her to bend her knee. (this made for one happy middle schooler!)
We're now at the 6 point post-surgery mark. She's doing really great, still in the smaller brace, going to PT twice a week. She has 5 scars from all the points of entry (with the main one on top of her knee being the only significant one). She has to do 5 months of PT and will probably have another 3 months before she can be very active.
I'm so thankful that the surgery is in the PAST and that it went so well. She was loved on so much by her family and friends. Though she's been so bummed, this showed her how many people truly care about her! I'm praying that this will be the fix she needed so she can get back to being a normal 6th grader.
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