Thursday 15 March 2012

When and How it all Began - Part 1

 Allegra and I woke as usual on Monday 19th September 2011.  We cuddled in bed and got up but Allegra would not walk or put her left foot on the ground, no weight bearing at all.  I palpated her foot, lower leg, upper leg, hip and she squirmed as I was palpating her left hip flexors and lateral upper leg.  Very concerned I took my little Allegra straight into emergency at the RCH and was seen by a doctor.  X-rays were performed which were painful for her to be in certain positions.  We were sent away with a "sprained hip, no fractures, take Nurofen every 8 hours".  This did not sit right as I know my little Allegra and she had not sprained her hip.  She was unsettled all day and still did not weight bear.  I went back to emergency that evening and was told by the triage nurse that they would not perform any further tests unless she has been not walking for more than 2 days.

The following day I rang Allegra's GP and was lucky enough to get an appointment that afternoon.  Dr Matt listened to my concerns and read up, then read out - Transient Synovitis (inflammation of the inner lining within the hip joint).  It did sound like what Allegra was suffering.
"it should disappear 7-10 days". Ok then, I was satisfied with a more believable diagnosis now.

In that time my little Allegra did stay off her leg, was happy playing on the floor and just sitting.  It did not upset her at all and every now and then she did attempt to walk but was not interested in weight bearing on her left leg.  Allegra did not have any other symptoms.  After 7 days Allegra walked with a very slight limp.  I would massage and do mobility assessments on her and there was a definite difference between left to right and Allegra would not put her left foot in her mouth but right was easy.  Our life continued as normal and our days together were dancing, singing, going to the park, going for lattes and baby chino's and getting out on our bike. Happy days!

Then on Saturday 15th October 2011 Allegra was not happy to walk and complained of "sore leg" pointing to her left upper thigh.  I made an appointment to see Dr Matt and he had not heard of this coming back. He wrote a referral to Mr Mark O'Sullivan (paediatric orthopaedic surgeon).  Again Allegra did not weight-bear for a few days then slowly began to walk still with her slight limp.
We saw Mr O'Sullivan on Monday 14th November 2011.  He looked at Allegra's X-rays and said "yes Transient Synovitis", agreed with left mobility restriction and said if this was still concerning me next year to come back and he would do further X-rays.  Ok, so I was still satisfied with this diagnosis.  We would wait and see.

Allegra was now on Panadol every 6 hours and Nurofen every 8 hours.  Her pain was getting worse and she was continually saying "sore".  I was now becoming quite worried and very unsure about the diagnosis.  I made an appointment again with Allegra's GP on Wednesday 23rd November 2011. We could not see Dr Matt but saw another doctor.  My concern now was that if it really was Transient Synovitis and we had to wait patiently for it to subside, her pain medications were not enough.  I could not have my baby cry in pain any more.  The doctor recommended me to go to emergency at RCH, which I did, with an overnight bag for us both.  My gut feeling was, that it was something more and I began fearing something worse.

Before I finish off Part 1, I want you all to know that my little Allegra in her life had previously not finished one bottle of Panadol.  She was never sick, had only minor colds, never suffered with teething and had only received 1 little surface scratch on her leg (which I photographed, because I was shattered by my babies pure skin damaged).


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