"Hi, Charlotte. I think I figured it out. Feel Maisie's back. It's kind of concave, right?"
And just like that, we had a diagnosis. Bowed Ribs by way of Calcium Deficiency. Not very scientific, but it worked for me and it worked for Dr. Livesay. I'm sure the orthopedist had some fancier word, but that's what we called it. Bowed Ribs by Way of Calcium Deficiency.
I should probably mention the calcium thing. I think I forgot to. Maisie was for a very long time, for lack of a better word, lactose intolerant. She was never nursed on my milk (even though we tried) because she could not digest it. She didn't react to it, exactly, but she didn't do anything else with it either. She drank it, then it was awkward for a little bit while it sat in her stomach, and then she puked it all up. At around 8 months we discovered that she was producing about half as much lactase (the enzyme that digests lactose) as she should be and the problem was remedied by injecting her every morning with motivation for lactase production. Some kind of medicine. I forget specifically what it's called (in case you haven't noticed by now, I have a terrible memory. I can't keep all these scientific names straight in my head. I have a notebook with all of them written down because I just can't remember them).
Anyway, she had some weird-ass bone deformation for a while there. The bones in her ankles were a little wacky (kind of didn't fit together properly and her feet were sort of sideways-ish) and a couple of her fingers have very confusing bends and twists. She's also a little adorably bow-legged. A lot of these things we sorted out with minor surgery and bracing when she was a baby. Her legs are still bowed (no need to undergo that major surgery - it won't impair her) and two fingers are twisty still because the orthopedist was afraid to fix them because the nerves and ligaments were all twisted around the bent bones. Her fingers worked, he pointed out, and if he tampered with them they'd be pretty but they may not function anymore. So we nixed that idea. Her feet had to be fixed quickly or she would not start walking. As it was she didn't walk until she didn't start standing until she was almost three. Oh and she has three implanted teeth and one just awkwardly missing because the calcium and vitamin D deficiency prevented them from coming in.
We'd thought that, by the time she was 10 months old, we had identified and started the process of fixing all her little bone problems. Apparently we overlooked one, because her back ribs curved in the wrong direction. And they were squishing her lungs. That was why she couldn't breathe!
It was so exciting - but also really scary. Because how were we going to fix that? The orthopedist called in two other doctors before suggesting that they take each rib out and turn it around. Just flip it. It was so simple, so elegant, and it worked like a charm.
And just like that, we had a diagnosis. Bowed Ribs by way of Calcium Deficiency. Not very scientific, but it worked for me and it worked for Dr. Livesay. I'm sure the orthopedist had some fancier word, but that's what we called it. Bowed Ribs by Way of Calcium Deficiency.
I should probably mention the calcium thing. I think I forgot to. Maisie was for a very long time, for lack of a better word, lactose intolerant. She was never nursed on my milk (even though we tried) because she could not digest it. She didn't react to it, exactly, but she didn't do anything else with it either. She drank it, then it was awkward for a little bit while it sat in her stomach, and then she puked it all up. At around 8 months we discovered that she was producing about half as much lactase (the enzyme that digests lactose) as she should be and the problem was remedied by injecting her every morning with motivation for lactase production. Some kind of medicine. I forget specifically what it's called (in case you haven't noticed by now, I have a terrible memory. I can't keep all these scientific names straight in my head. I have a notebook with all of them written down because I just can't remember them).
Anyway, she had some weird-ass bone deformation for a while there. The bones in her ankles were a little wacky (kind of didn't fit together properly and her feet were sort of sideways-ish) and a couple of her fingers have very confusing bends and twists. She's also a little adorably bow-legged. A lot of these things we sorted out with minor surgery and bracing when she was a baby. Her legs are still bowed (no need to undergo that major surgery - it won't impair her) and two fingers are twisty still because the orthopedist was afraid to fix them because the nerves and ligaments were all twisted around the bent bones. Her fingers worked, he pointed out, and if he tampered with them they'd be pretty but they may not function anymore. So we nixed that idea. Her feet had to be fixed quickly or she would not start walking. As it was she didn't walk until she didn't start standing until she was almost three. Oh and she has three implanted teeth and one just awkwardly missing because the calcium and vitamin D deficiency prevented them from coming in.
We'd thought that, by the time she was 10 months old, we had identified and started the process of fixing all her little bone problems. Apparently we overlooked one, because her back ribs curved in the wrong direction. And they were squishing her lungs. That was why she couldn't breathe!
It was so exciting - but also really scary. Because how were we going to fix that? The orthopedist called in two other doctors before suggesting that they take each rib out and turn it around. Just flip it. It was so simple, so elegant, and it worked like a charm.
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