Another Update on Zach's Knees

We had our big appt. in Iowa City. Basically, this doctor is not convinced that Zach has OCD. However, whether or not it has a name is not the point because he still has a defect on the back of both patellas. We have some options to consider but basically it came down to-without surgery he won't recover enough to be able to run during high school. We have scheduled his surgery for his right knee (the worst one) on April 12th. They will do a laproscopic surgery which means they will make two slits and insert a camera to look at the lesion. Depending on what he sees, he has two options. Number 1 is microfracture which involves poking holes in his kneecap to cause bleeding and therefore scar tissue will build up and heal over the lesion so it doesn't swell anymore. This will be fibrocartilage and not the hyaline cartilage he was born with. You can't regrow that cartilage. If the doctor thinks the lesion is worse than that surgery could help, then number 2 will happen. They will cut him open further, pull back the kneecap and place a cartilage "plug" that they take from a different part of his knee. That is obviously more invasive but it is a good option to be able to do it right then and not have a separate surgery. He will have to miss about a week of school but then can go back with crutches. It was a whole lot for me to process and I'm still working on it.