Over the years, Aubrey has always been on the go. Unfortunately, she’s had the not so fun luck of easily spraining ankles, knees, and so on. We’ve come to the realization that we’ve all dealt with hypermobility that just makes our klutziness a bit harder to deal with and injuries more likely. As Aubrey has grown, we’ve learned of an accessory navicular bone. The easiest way found to describe such is as she grew, because of the inflammation and sprains, a bone never fused properly, creating an extra bone. It has been a long process of getting a treatment plan figured out but finally, it is safe to say Aubrey can finally see the finish line she’s been trying to find.
As a teenager, you can imagine the frustration of being in a tall boot, unable to participate in sports or PE activities like she’s loved. After trying the boot, custom orthotics, physical therapy, etc., she finally was able to get a very necessary referral to an orthopedic surgeon/podiatrist. In early December, Aubrey had her first surgery ever to remove the accessory navicular bone that has caused her pain and discomfort longer than it should have. Sure enough, the surgeon told us none of our previous attempts would do any real good and the only actual option was the surgery. Aubrey is such a smart young woman; she’d spent time researching and ultimately knew already the surgery is what she wanted early on in the process.
While our original game plan was Aubrey wanting to return to school one week post-surgery, her body of course had other plans. She is still non-weightbearing for at least another week and will be very minimal before she is allowed to return to physical therapy and rebuild the strength in her foot and leg. Aubrey has always been a strong-willed kiddo, much like her mother. That entailed Aubrey not realizing she was pushing her pain and almost caused herself to pass out from ignoring the pain as much as she could. We all agreed it would be safer to wait to return to school vs. trying to get through busy high school hauls with crutches or a knee scooter.
Her stitches have been removed, swelling is finally disappearing, and we’re all watching the many colors of bruising hopefully disappearing soon. So while this year has been a whirlwind for her, we all look forward to her being able to freely move the way she wants and not be restricted.
