Name :    Samantha C. (Mother, Angie)

Child:  8  years old

Location:   Fairland, Indiana

Area(s) affected:  Left knee

Personal History:

My daughter was just recently diagnosed with melorheostosis. It was found incidentally, after a fall I took her to the er to get her knee checked out and make sure nothing was injured. They took an x-ray of her left knee and the er doctor came in to do his exam and was asking her if she has had any pain in that area before this accident.  At the time I was thinking why would pain before have anything to do with her injury today.  She told him she has not had any pain before. He then told us an area showed up on her x-ray of a very dense area that was very concerning. He showed me the x-ray and it was very obvious to me where this area was. The area of the femur bone where the growth plate is, it is between the growth plate and the bottom of that bone where the knee is. It is inside the bone. This happened on a weekend so I called the ortho office first thing Monday morning and they were able to see her the same day. This doctor was not sure what to make of it but knew there was definitly something and wanted her to have an MRI and see thier child specialist, so an appointment was made for the MRI and to see the other doctor. A few days after the MRI we go to see the child specialist. He said there was something that came up on the MRI he told us the word and I could not remember what he had said it was but that he had heard of it but knew nothing about it. He then referred us to an Orthopedics specialist Dr. Wurtz at Riley Hospital for kids. After getting the MRI results we were told she has this rare bone disease melorheostitis. They said her case is little more unusual because it is on the inside of the bone. So now I am trying to find all the information I possibly can as to learn more about this. She has walked on her tippy toes for quite some time and after reading some of the information I guess this is one of the things that can occur, short tendons.

Return to Personal Histories