Kelly started experiencing pain in her knee while running a couple of months ago. We took her to an orthopaedic surgeon and they did x-rays and an MRI. Both showed a "hole" in the bone just above her knee. We needed to find out why it was there and how to alleviate the pain for Kelly.
Today we went to see a wonderful orthopedic oncologist at Emory to get some specific answers. He feels certain that the cause of the hole in the bone is an osteo blastoma. It is quite large and will require surgery to remove. The resulting "gap" will require a synthetic bone graft to act as scaffolding for new bone growth.
She will have the surgery on December 11, and will be on crutches for 2-4 weeks. She will continue to recover for another couple of months, but should be good as new, by springtime. The doctor is confident that the biopsy will be benign, and she should not have any recurrence of this. It's just one of those very weird, 3 in a million (literally) cases that is totally random. We've always known she was special. :)
She was quite relieved to find out she will be sprinting again for the track team, and she will be able to resume all of her other favorite activities as well. Going a month or more without riding her beloved Sally may be the hardest part of all of this. We will just have to bring Sally treats and love on her from the ground!
Your support, prayers, and positive thoughts are so greatly appreciated.
We hope that you are all feeling very thankful this holiday as well. Best wishes for a wonderful day tomorrow!
