It's the rod

   Yesterday I got a call from Dr. Nelson's nurse. She apologized for taking so long to get back to us. She was having trouble with her voicemail. But she got us an appointment to go in and see another doctor this morning. We had an early morning and had to leave by seven thirty to make it in time. I was tired as I was getting the girls snacks and lunches packed that when I went to pour myself a freshly brewed cup of coffee I realized that I had forgotten to put coffee in the machine.
   At the appointment they had new x-rays taken of Amaya's hip and legs. They did the full scan that Dr. Nelson had requested for the next appointment. It was a new machine that took a 3D scan. First we saw a resident and then a doctor. The resident told me that the rod can turn, that it doesn't have a screw in there to hold it in place, and that he didn't see any breaks or fractures by the rod. He said that the rod may be hitting her bones and that would explain the "pop" sensation she's having. Both the resident and the doctor said that the rod has moved. The doctor pointed out that there's a "halo" (a dark shadow next to the rod) at the bottom of her leg. He said that shows the rod has moved. He also pointed out that in the x-rays from January the rod was flush with the top of her femur, but this time it was above it. It looks to be about an inch above it to me. He said that it isn't a major complication and that we shouldn't worry too much. He said that we need to keep an eye on it and follow up in three months. He said that it may continue to move up. He said that when it comes up to the surface it should be removed. But said that when we come in to see Dr. Nelson in July he will decide whether we should keep it in or remove it. He said that if it has to be removed its a pretty easy procedure; they just make a small incision and pull it out. He said that her bone looks so good that he feels it would be able to withstand the removal now. He did a full exam of her legs and said that she has recovered so nicely from her lengthening. He said that the knee pain that she's feeling maybe from the hip; that its sometimes experienced in the knee even though the source is the hip. He said she can continue with her activity because it will continue to strengthen the femur.
    It was reassuring to know it wasn't a big problem, but not very comforting knowing she will continue to deal with the pain. At school today she's already asked for Tylenol and gone in to see Josh because of pain (she's only been there three hours). We had removed the tape on her hip so they could examine her hip and incision well. It seems to help relieve the pain so we will re-tape it this afternoon.
   Thanks again for all your care, concern, advice and help. Its nice knowing we have so many who care about Amaya and our family. Thank you.

Here she is getting her x-ray on the new scanning machine. You can actually see the green line going down doing the scan. 

Here's the full leg x-ray. If you look close you can see the "halo" by the rod. And you can see how well her femur has healed. The 3.1 inches of new bone is healing and filling in "nicely."

Here's a close up of the hip. Here you can see how high up the rod is.