Unfortunately Tim’s broken ankle (broken March 15th) is still giving him trouble. Despite being out of the cast for over three weeks, he was still limping around. Then Sunday in the late afternoon he landed funny on it off one of the front steps and hurt himself – badly enough to start complaining about it.
So Monday morning we took him to the ER – very difficult to reach the orthopedist – and thus began a ten and a half (!) hour odyssey for Tim and Brigid.
We arrived at 8:30 in the morning, but Tim and Brigid were there until 7PM! Tim had an X-Ray, and then an MRI, and then a CAT scan. With a lot of hurry up and wait between the scans.
Then this morning we saw the orthopod, Dr. Purcell. There is a good possibilty that Tim has something called Avascular Necrosis, in his ankle, which in simple terms means the blood flow to the damaged area is not what it should be. He will have a bone scan on Friday, which should be definitive. In the meantime he is back on crutches ,with no weight bearing on the left leg. And an aircast for the next week. The no weight bearing will probably be for at least three weeks.
This problem is very rare in children Tim’s age (he’s ten). I am getting a second opinion on the scans, courtesy of my radiologist friends at Mount Vernon hospital tomorrow. If it is Avascular Necrosis, it should clear up with rest (the affected area will “re-vascularize”).
In the meantime, poor old Mister Action Man Tim is going to have to cool his jets and be very careful for the next several weeks. His baseball season looks to be completely shot.
Of course he doesn’t have a complete understanding of his problem, and is a little fearful (“do I have a tumor?”) but is really handling it well.
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