New Diagnosis

I took Nathan back to the doctor a couple of weeks ago because I was never really satisfied with the "spastic hamstring" diagnosis and his situation has not been improving enough to ease my concerns.  With him starting in the middle school this year, I wanted to try again to get to the bottom of the problem.

As it turned out, our referring doctor had never even heard back from the specialist that had given us the spastic hamstring diagnosis.  He was concerned when I told him that Nathan lags behind the family when we are out, and that he has a pronounced limp.  Our doctor referred us to another physical therapist, one that is even more specialized.  He said if we couldn't get improvement with him, we'd likely be going to Primary Children's.

So Nathan had his first appointment with the PT yesterday morning.  He asked us some background questions then had Nathan remove his shoes and shirt.  Right away he noticed a problem in his back and said it looked like a compensatory scoliosis...meaning that something was causing a curve in his back.  One side of Nathan's back was higher when he leaned over and one foot was turned in just a little.

He manipulated several spots on Nathan, found several motion restrictions and loosened him up quite a bit.  After a short amount of time, the PT concluded that the scoliosis was not being caused by anything, rather it was causing Nathan's problems.  He said it could explain Nathan's short stature as well because scoliosis can stunt growth.

Usually, this kind of scoliosis is discovered in Jr. High when the government funds health checks to catch it....right at puberty and its accompanying growth spurts.  I feel good that we are aware even before that time.

The PT was very clear that we were not at the stages of this to be overly concerned.  He told me not to look it up on the internet because it would just be a lot of scary stuff that didn't apply right now.  Of course, he didn't know who he was talking to! I looked up a little last night.  ;)

For now, Nathan has two more appts. scheduled over the next two weeks.  I am hopeful that we will now be moving forward and getting Nathan some relief.

Yesterday afternoon, we were meeting Nathan's 5th grade teacher and I mentioned that he'd just been given the diagnosis of scoliosis that morning.  (I wanted her to be aware, just in case he had a bad day in the first few days of school.)  What a surprise we got when she said she also had scoliosis!  Some people would call it a coincidence.  I call it a blessing.  And I said as much to Nathan on the way home.  I told him I knew Heavenly Father was mindful of him and was watching over him.  Really, on the VERY DAY he finds out?  That is a tender mercy from heaven.