Rylee's MRI Results

We met this morning with Rylee's Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon to go over the results of her MRI.

I think it's safe to say we're "cautiously optimistic yet perplexed."

The surgeon said that on the MRI, he sees "no radical instability." He read us the report from the neuroradiologist, who also looked over the MRI, and his notes do, in fact, rule out AAI. However, there was nothing in the notes that addressed the AOI, which is what we were initially told Rylee had. The surgeon said he would follow up with the neuroradiologist on that.

The surgeon did say that "x-rays can be misleading" and that MRI's were much more reliable. However, he did also say that when positioning Rylee's head for the MRI, he may not have extended or flexed her neck as much as she herself during her x-ray, which may have lead to the inconsistencies between the x-ray and MRI. He said that he would like to go back to the Pediatric Radiologist who initially read the x-ray to see if she can give an explanation as to the discrepancy between the x-ray and MRI.

The surgeon told us shortly after Rylee's MRI that he saw "definite slippage" when glancing at the scan. We aren't sure if after reviewing the scan with other docs they came to a different conclusion? (Of course I thought of this after our appointment, so I didn't ask the surgeon this question...)

So, where does this leave us?

I'm going with my gut. My gut tells me that we need a 2nd opinion.

While I am THRILLED to hear that this surgeon doesn't see any instability, I am not feeling confident as to the inconsistencies. This surgeon told us that he does not deal with AAI/AOI often... so to get Rylee's x-rays and MRI scans into the hands of doctors who do seems to be a very logical next step.

I will be making some calls and keeping you updated! We appreciate your continued thoughts as we work through this...

(Hey, maybe all of the thoughts and prayers from you guys worked! So, keep sending them... we hope the 2nd opinion doctor says, "nope, nothing there!" and we can cross this off our list and move on!!)