A Breathe of Fresh Air

After being redirected by an amazing security guard through the bowels of Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown, NJ, we arrived at the office of Dr. Arthur Atlas, Pediatric Pulmonologist.

HI!

Good news is Josephine’s lungs are working well and present no issues at this time.

Mediocre news is Josephine’s left side of her rib cage is indeed bell-shaped, meaning the upper part of her rib cage is more narrow than the bottom (uh, kinda similar to a BELL).  At this point, it’s more of a cosmetic issue than anything else.  My thought is when she wants to correct the issue, we can DISCUSS it with her.  But if it presents no danger to her, why change it?

Dr. Atlas (also an wonderfully gentle man) wants to see Josephine in a year to make sure everything in growing in proportion to each other.

This visit made me think it’s about time to see Dr. Dreamy, er, um, Dr. Donald Putman (Pediatric Cardiologist) again.  The last time he saw Josephine was when she had just turned 1 year and he cleared her of any heart issues.  But as I understand with chromosome disorders, things can change year to year and it’s important to stay on top things.

I tell ya…it never gets old seeing Dr. Putman!

No Bones About It

I would like to take this time to introduce to you, our newest doctor to enter Josephine’s world…(trumpets please): Dr. Mark Rieger, Pediatric Orthopedist, at The Orthopedic Center in Cedar Knolls, NJ.

I have read that scoliosis is a common characteristic of Tet 8p – about 1/2 of the kids, or 7 if you want numbers. And I’ve noticed since Josephine has been on her feet and moving more, she always leans one direction (don’t ask me which way since I can’t even tell MY OWN left and right at this point).

Besides, I was getting tired of the same old set of doctors and wanted to meet someone new…

Seriously, though…Dr. Rieger was very kind and had a great bedside manner with Josephine.

No scoliosis at this point. Straight spine. I am certainly relieved to hear that. But I also know that as she starts to walk more, her spine may change as well.  I tell ya, this gal’s keepin’ me on my toes!

He prescribed braces for Josephine – called Bilateral Low Profile SMOs – to help her strengthen her standing and walking. Josephine had her fitting last week and we should be getting them in the next couple of weeks.

Dr. Rieger also noted a rib cage abnormality, which we knew about. What we didn’t know was if it was an extra rib, bowing rib, missing rib, etc…

It was suggested that Josephine has a bell-shaped unilateral rib cage (good luck finding ANY information on THAT one…scoured the Internet for something to see, but came up short) and should see a Pediatric Pulmonologist to determine if her lungs are affected by the deformity.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to Morristown Medical Center we go (well, went, since I am so far behind)…