Pediatric Orthopedics

Physical exam for DDH Baby in DDH splint
Baby in Club foot cast

What a great way to finish the selective. I so enjoy pediatrics. People keep telling me I should go into that. It'll be interesting to see where God leads next year.

We spent the first couple hours learning more about Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip, Club Foot, and Perthes Disease. I have a special fondness for learning about these things as I have family members who have dealt with some of these issues.

After the lecture and slides, we moved to the clinic. What a great experience to be able to rejoice with the parents of a boy born with a club foot as they took off his final cast. They were so thankful to the doctor for his "simple" fix - one that avoided surgery.

We sympathized and comforted the mom who learned that during her C-section two days previous, her daughters femur was fractured.

I bit my tongue as the parents of a 6 year old explained to the doctor that their son didn't like doing the exercises he was assigned to help with his Perthes disease. I listened as the doctor patiently explained that if he didn't do the exercises and continued to refuse to even walk on his leg, he risked losing his hip joint altogether - he's heading for multiple surgeries and a lifetime of pain.

I wanted to have my sister and my Dad there to explain why it's so important to do the exercises and to wear the brace. Things that we know now that we didn't know when they were dealing with their hip problems. I know it's difficult to realize your child isn't the perfect baby that you hoped for. But putting the brace between their hips is such an easy fix compared to the multiple hip surgeries, the multiple prosthetic devices, the pain, that they will face if they refuse to help their child thru this.

I really do enjoy helping parents with their kids. I like making the kids feel better and I enjoy helping parents to realize that they can be the biggest help to their kids thru a difficult time. It was a great day - a nice way to end the selective.

Sunday we move on to dermatology - it'll be interesting to see what we see in the clinic there!