Thursday, March 20, 2008

Visit to the orthopedic doctor

We just came back from the orthopedic doctor in Boston. He is in agreement with the rheumatologist that Jake needs a synovectomy. He says the MRI shows a "mass" of tissue in the knee joint. He says that he isn't totally sure on what's going on. He said it could be one of three things. First, the Juvenile arthritis causing a large amount of tissue growth in the joint, second, the JRA with pieces of cartilage floating around(there is pieces of something in the joint) this he said is seen in old people who have Rheumatoid arthritis!!, or something called Pigmented Villonodular synovitis. This condition can mimic what is going on too. This is not a very common thing at all! The doctor and the rheumatologist are very baffled on what is going on. Frankly, I am extremely worried! The doctor said as soon as he gets in there with the camera he will be able to tell exactly what it is by the looks of it. He is going to biopsy the tissue as well. So, the surgery itself will be arthroscopic and he will be on crutches for a while. He will be out of school for a week or so. Jake already told me that he isn't going to school with the crutches so hopefully he doesn't need them long! Say some prayers for us that all goes well and we finally find out what's going on! I have about had it with the "rare" diagnosis! The JRA was rare, the uveitis is oh, 38 in 100,000 people and these complications extremely rare!

3 comments:

LEslie Bradner said...

Joanne: I found your blog as a link from another JRA blog. I'm form the "Kids Live with...." board. Hang in there and I know what you mean getting tired of the "rare" diagnosis. At times I just want to know when can something be easy relating to this disease???

Be strong and just keep movin forward. Know you have strong support from the ladies on the message board and we will all be waiting to hear how Tues. goes. IF you need to vent before then be sure to visit.

Isn't the blog the best way to share info with others easily? We have one set up for Allison too. She likes to do entries too.
Take Care & I am praying for your family.
Leslie
"Allison's Mom"

Anonymous said...

Hey Joanne-
Give Jake a hug from me and Candace...we'll be thinking of you all. I'm sure he'll be good as new after next week. Good luck! And tell the little man I'll take him on in Guitar Hero whenever he thinks he can handle it... :-)
Love
Mike

MitchB said...

Hey there: Nope, Amanda hasn't had anything like the issues you're talking about. The one thing that is a bit similar is this: Amanda will occasionally complain that her knee locks and she can't bend it and has a hard time weight-bearing on it. Not painful, just goes funny. The rheumy mentioned there could be a piece of cartilage floating around but the x-rays were clean. So not sure what happens. She hasn't had it for a bit now.

Keep me posted on how Jacob makes out with the procedure!!

Michelle