Oliver's not so excellent adventure

I have some unfortunate, though not catastrophic news. As some of you know from Facebook, Oliver was diagnosed with Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease this today. It's a disease where part of the hip bone dies due to loss of blood, and has to grow back, and grow back in the right alignment and shape. He's in the beginning stages, and it will take 2 years or so for it to heal enough to where he can be active again. He'll need a wheelchair and/or crutches or a walker some of the time and to avoid running and jumping. Surgery is a possibility down the road, and it is especially a hope that he doesn't get it in the other hip. He's got a fabulous medical team for this rare condition, which affects about 10-15 kids in the metro at one time. He also has a great attitude, and we know he can do this, even though it will be challenging. If you want more information, this is an excellent, short overview that fits with what the doctor shared with us.

We've experienced a lot of love and support from friends and family today, and really appreciate your prayers and support. There are a lot of details to work out - his school situation, finding him therapeutic swimming somewhere (a great non-weight-bearing option), just figuring out how to get him in and out of the house. He's 60 pounds and I have significant back problems - it's going to be a real challenge, and I don't even want to think about the snow. It's a lot to digest. I start to think we'll get through this (and I know we will) and then I think about Halloween, for example, with all those many steps, and it doesn't even occur to Ollie yet as he talks excitedly about Halloween. It will take a while for him to digest it, I think - and I think it will be hard to watch his twin do daily what he can't. It will be hard for Noah too - I reminded him at bedtime that he and his needs are just as important, and promised to check in with him to make sure he feels that thats the case. And yet, I know it could be much worse - this is a self-limiting disease, generally. He should run and walk normally again, even if he won't ever be a marathon runner. There are small blessings everywhere - that my mom happens to already be on the way here this week, that we could get into an MRI right away and be seen by the only doc in town who specializes in this, that Ollie has crazy upperbody strength from all that climbing he does. An even larger blessing is our wonderful family, church, and friends. Less wonderful is the fact that the clinic is a tier 2 on our insurance, and we have no other options - that makes things a lot more expensive. Shriners may be an option - we're looking into that. We see the doc again in 2 weeks, and should know a bit more then - she's sharing the results of the MRI with her colleagues in Texas, where they have a center for this.

We'll keep you posted - thanks for listening.