Zach's Knees

Zach has been having swelling and some pain in his knees since last summer. We took him to the doctor last week because it was steadily getting worse. We could tell there was fluid and his trainer at school recommended a sports physician at ORA. As soon as Dr. Ellis came into the room, I knew we were in the right place. She was full of knowledge and I was thankful we would have an answer quickly.



But I was wrong on the quick part. After examining him, she ordered x-rays. Which turned out to be normal. Good to know that structurally, all was good. Next step was to draw out fluid to be tested. Clear fluid would be best but she said it may be cloudy which would lend itself to infection. As soon as she started to draw it, my heart sank. It was red. She said, "This is not at all what I was expecting." She explained that at Zach's age, this should not be happening and she would order an MRI to hopefully get to the bottom of it.



So he had the MRI. On Thursday, we went in to get the results. Thankfully, all the lab work was normal which ruled out infection and juvenile arthritis. So thankful for that. Also thankful that the MRI showed the answer. He has a defect in the articular cartilage behind his patela. She explained it as a pothole in the smooth lining of the cartilage that was somehow disrupted and was causing blood in the joint. Because his knees are both having the same symptoms, she is certain an MRI on the other knee would show the same thing. More than likely, this has been caused by a fall on both knees that we just don't remember.

She has refered us to another doctor in her ORA group who specializes in cartilage damage in the knees. He just transfered here from his position as the sports physician for the UCLA (Bruins? I can't remember if this is the team she said). Anyway, he is a surgeon so more than likely, he will want to operate on Zach's knees to fix the cartilage. Although she's not sure, he might have some other things to try first, we just have to wait and see what he says. If he has to have surgery, it will be an outpatient procedure and it will be on the left knee first. Then he will have another MRI for the other knee and surgery on that one.
She seems to think that after we have it fixed, he will have a full recovery and be able to return to sports.

To tell you the truth, I am relieved to have an answer and to know that it wasn't something that showed in the lab work. That would have been trickier to treat the doctor agrees that this is better, even though it means possible surgery.

Thanks in advance for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.