A Little Help With a Hernia

Stacey has been a trooper. Last spring some who have kept up with us may remember that we found out she has a hernia on her right calf muscle. She was very discouraged at the time because the orthopedic doctor in town said she could continue to play sports like she does as long as she can stand the pain. The only option he said for "fixing" it would be surgery. That was daunting.

Fast forward six months and she is in a great deal of pain. She decided to manage the cross country team instead of run this fall because she wanted to save her leg the pain so she would be stronger for basketball season. Now that basketball has started, she has already had to ask to be pulled out of games because of the pain. This is not acceptable for her or us.

We got a referral to the University Orthopedic Sports Medicine Department where we were hoping they had seen a few more of these and had some better options. Yesterday we took a trip down there. What an answer to prayer! 

The doctor there told us we don't want to do surgery because it isn't very successful. BUT there are treatments that we could do. The first one he suggested is a steroid injection around the hernia. He said that it is a one time deal for most people. He told us if we could wait for just a bit, he could get the ultrasound machine in and they could do it right then.

It wasn't too bad Stacey said, felt weird and will for a couple days is what we were told. If after a week she still has pain, we are supposed to call back because there are other tests he would run if there is something more going on. Please pray that this will relieve the pain for Stacey. It is so frustrating for her to be active and hurting. This afternoon is the first basketball game and the doctor said she can play so we will see how it goes!