Brendan Update: 4

Today was our follow-up appointment for Brendan at duPont Children's Hospital in Delaware. If you don't know the whole story, you can catch up by reading here, here, here, and finally here.
It's been 8 weeks or so since our last visit and if you remember we got some good news last time. His x-rays showed new growth in the bone. After 8 weeks we were very anxious to see what was going on in there. Since November Brendan has been on restricted activity. No running or jumping....at all. The running thing was near impossible, but anyway, we've been hoping our efforts were paying off.
We all went today and got held up in finance for an hour. Bleh! Insurance irks me like no other! I took the camera and have a plethora of pictures of the children making silly faces while we waited and waited and waited for insurance stuff to clear up. Finally it did. Brendan had 2 x-rays taken and then we went back to the office for the feedback.
Dr. B came in beaming and said...and I quote, "The bone is filling in beautifully!" He was so pleased and so were we! This is GREAT news! He checked Brendan's range of motion, watched him walk down the hall and showed us the x-rays. Amazing!!!! He showed us the progression and what's happening and where the blood vessels are and all that new bone! Aren't our bodies fearfully and wonderfully made?! I just can't believe it can repair like it has. For now Brendan has the green light to run!!! If he hurts or limps worse after running then we have to back off a bit. He said the bone is still pretty soft. No jumping still, but Dr. B said probably 3 more months and he can do whatever he wants!!! This couldn't be better timing with the weather and spring and outdoor activities on the way.
We will go back in 4 months for another follow-up and they will continue to watch his growth in that leg. The damage was extensive enough that there has been some growth plate damage, but he thinks there is enough good growth plate left that it shouldn't be a problem. We learned some other interesting things about Perthes Disease too. He said that kids usually stop growing while the first few stages are happening....until the re-ossification starts again...which is what is happening right now. He said if you look at their hands, their hands will be about a year or two behind, but for some reason their teeth aren't. Weird. Dr. B thinks that Brendan will have a significant growth spurt soon and totally catch back up to where he would have been otherwise. He says a lot of this disease is a mystery. There have been 900 cases of Perthes that have come through that hospital since 1939. He has reviewed and studied all of them and still there is so much unknown.
We are happy and excited and so thankful for the good news we got today. Brendan is happy too. No more, "Stop running! Your leg!!!!" He kept saying on the way home, "So this time I earned 'running'. And next time I'll get to earn, 'jumping'." He's pretty darn happy about that!
Can't leave you without the plethora of silly face pictures!