Scottish Rite Hospital Update

For all of my faithful blog readers....Here is the update for Levi's first visit to Scottish Rite Hospital today:

The doctor said there are 3 areas to focus on with Levi's brachial plexus injury on his right arm. Here are the things we discussed with the doctor today:

1. His wrist movement--which could be "fixed" later with minor surgery. She said that is not a decision we need to make now. She would like to wait until he develops more. No rush....

2. Levi needs to have his arm "straightened"--it bends at the elbow at the radial head. That bone is sticking out somewhat. So...Levi has to wear a "brace/splint" at night when he sleeps for about 6-9 months to correct this. Six to nine months is also when we need to go back for a follow-up visit at Scottish Rite.

3. Levi's shoulder is dislocated because of the the brachial plexus injury--it is a secondary result from the original injury. It cannot be fixed though like an adult's could be fixed. If you were to dislocated your shoulder, the doctor would just pop it back into place. Levi's had grown wrong because it was left untreated for so long. So, there is nothing to "pop" his shoulder bone back into. So, there is a surgery the doctor could do entailing cutting a part of his bone to make his arm turn more outward--but it won't fix the actual shoulder.....but she said that this could take away some of the strength and ability he has now. So, it is something we are opting not to do. We think he is just perfect the way he is. I don't want him to go through all that trauma and pain and wind up with a worse situation or at least different problems. No point in trading one problem for another.

4. There is nothing the doctor can do for lengthening Levi's limbs. She said limb stretching was not recommended for him and was even too risky. He may just have one arm an inch or two shorter than the other. Levi doesn't seem to mind. I was sharing with my parents a cute story about Levi.....A couple of months ago, the kids were playing with Mr. Potato Head. Levi chose a long arm and a short arm for his potato. Ruthie tried to explain to him that that was wrong and he needed his arms to be the same length. Levi insisted that it was right, and he liked it that way and refused to change it. This just goes to show you that he seems himself in a positive way. He doesn't know anything is "wrong" with his arm....and we plan to keep it that way. He is just the way he is supposed to be. :)

5. The good news is that he required no physical therapy of any kind. The doctor told me to keep him in Karate and let him just be a kid--ride bike, swing, swim, etc. All of those activities would strengthen his arm. Yeah!!

6. The doctor wants us to go see a facial-cranial specialist for Levi's head. They want to make sure the skull hasn't closed too much to inhibit continual brain growth. We have to make an appointment to go to Children's Medical Hospital in the next few weeks. We'll see how this turns out. Please pray for there to be no problems associated with his sweet little head. :) We're leaving this in God's hands.

That's all we know at this point. I think it was definitely a good news day overall. We are doing as much as we can do for Levi's arm and will just have to make sure his head is okay. The experience was wonderful at Scottish Rite. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. We didn't have to wait long and were well taken care of! It's a fun place for kids---lots of neat things to see and do.