Physical Therapy!

Well i started my Physical Therapy this week and the lady there said my condition is not very good and the fact that I'm still so swollen after a month of injuring my knees is not good. But I have to go 3 times a week and I went twice so far and they have done exercises with my muscles and electro therapy and Ice then taped my knee in place. I guess my knee cap wont move in my knee like its supposed to, so its causing a problem. I also was told that i probably have a tear in the side of my knee that the MRI didn't pick up because of the lack of movement and pain that I have in the inner part of my knees. But I'm not walking, slowly but its coming along and I'm working on returning to the mission as fast as I can.

The MRI results are in.....Surgery, or no surgery?

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Hi Everyone~ I wanted to let you all know how Whitney's doctor appointment went this week on Wednesday the 16th.

The Orthopedic Surgeon showed us her MRI scans of both her knees and said he said that he did not find a tare in either knee and that surgery is not needed. Thank goodness! He did find that there was soft cartilage damage due to her injuries and fluid built up which is what is causing the pain and swelling. He said that she will need about 4-6 weeks of physical therapy and then should be almost as good as new. She is to start walking now and stop using the wheelchair except for when she's out at the mall or someplace where she would have to do a lot of walking. Thank goodness... The wheelchair was killing my back taking it in and out of our SUV.

She has a follow up appointment with him in a month to see how she's progressing. Hopefully in two months he'll give her the okay to go back out into the mission field. When he told us she didn't need surgery she became upset thinking that she didn't need to be sent home from Guatemala in the first place, if only they had done an MRI there perhaps they would have put her in the mission office for a month or two to recovery and then be sent back out into the field. I told her that would have been too difficult for them to deal with since she needs a companion and sitting in the mission office would only hold back her companion too. She understood and has accepted it.

Perhaps we will be able to start working on her papers for her second mission call soon. Don't know how long that process will take. A Church History mission or Temple mission would be fun, but I'm thinking maybe they'll send her to Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, or San Diego where she has plenty of opportunities to use her Spanish. We shall see.

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Sacrament Homecoming Talk

Whitney gave her homecoming talk today and did a fabulous job, even baring her testimony in the Guatemalan native language.

First Doctor Visit ~ Diagnosis & Treatment Plan

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We finally got in to see an Orthopedic Surgeon today, Dr. Karzel from the Southern California Orthopedic Institute SCOI, and got an official diagnosis on Whitney's knee injury.

Patella Femoral Syndrome, as previously diagnosed by the Guatemalan doctor. Only this time x-ray's were taken to rule out any bone damage, and now Whit is scheduled to get an MRI to see the full extent of damage to the soft tissue; cartilage and tendons. Both Dr. Karzel and Debbie, his Nurse Practitioner, did say that she will need surgery on both knees followed up with physical therapy. Her right knee will be operated on first, and then approximately two months later (depending on her own personal recovery time) her left knee will be operated on. The operation in tells using hardware such as pins and screws to reattach the soft tissue back to her patella and tibia. I'm sure there is more to it than that, but spare us the nitty gritty details. There didn't seem to be any broken bone fragments floating around in the x-ray, but the pad between the bones showed some ware and tare due to her active lifestyle with dancing and swimming; nothing to be alarmed of though.

They said that this type of knee problem is common among young active individuals and that she will be fully recovered after the surgery and physical therapy; well enough to return to the mission field if she so chooses. She is to begin gentle knee Pre-OP exercises tomorrow to strengthen her quads, hamstrings, and gluts so that she doesn't lose strength in her legs and assists in the Post-OP rehabilitation. She's also to use crutches at home and a wheelchair when going out so that she doesn't put anymore pressure on her knee joint.

We will keep you posted on what her MRI tells us coming up in about two weeks, unless we get Pre-Authorization from our Medical Insurance Company and can have the MRI done sooner than whats currently scheduled.

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