Name : Steve
Adult: 40 years old
City, State: San Diego, CA
Area of body affected: Left knee
E-mail : sbouker@arrowheadgrp.com
Personal History:
I was first diagnosed at about age 10 after complaining of severe knee pain resulting primarily from sports activities. My left knee also had a large "knob" on the left side of the knee. At first we thought this was just "knobby knees".
After many visits to the same orthopedic doctor, he finally diagnosed Melorheostosis. We decided on a fairly major surgery to deal with it. This involved removing a large pie shaped wedge of bone from the knee and doing a "bunch of other stuff" to patch it all back together. I was in a full cast for about 5-6 months and crutches for about 9 months. To make matters worse, my right leg continued to grow longer while the left leg stopped after the surgery. This meant shoe lifts to deal with the differential of about 3 inches. Then, a couple of years later, a surgery was performed on the right leg to shorten it to make it equal to the left.
Although I have been somewhat restricted in what I can do, I currently play golf, work out regularly and even surf (I'm sure my doctors would not approve of the latter). I occasionally get pain in my left knee after long walks, but it seems pretty good, all things considered.
My questions is this:
Does this disease get worse over time? Can I expect new problems as I get older?
Thanks, Steve