Plan for Better Bones

Bertrand tearing into his Valentine's haul from school.

Bertrand had a fabulous physical therapy session at Shriners and afterward we had an appointment to discuss Bertrand's bone health with his pediatrician. Not only are broken bones painful for Bertrand, but they set him back developmentally--he has yet to recover fully from his broken leg in October. Bertrand broke both his humerus (upper arm) and his femur (upper leg) in 2010, so we want to plan to prevent additional breaks.

The discussion with his pediatrician went fantastically well. We covered topics including: water therapy, weight bearing, vibration therapy, vitamin D, calcium & phosphorous supplementation, bisphosphinate injections, medication interaction (prevacid, depakote), & more.

His pediatrician believes that Bertrand does have low bone density (just like any other child with a neurological disorder would have), so a dexascan wouldn't reveal anything new. However, his breaks have occurred in very typical locations for a child his age and his last bone break may have been due to a growth spurt. Therefore, she is not convinced that his bones are that bad.

Furthermore, Bertrand is still young, he is doing way better than expected (yay!) and there is a lot we can do to build his bones naturally--which would be less brittle than bone created through something like bisphosphinate injections.

Bertrand's Plan for Better Bones:

• Supplementation: We'll do a 3 day food diary to estimate his current calcium, vitamin d, and phosphorus intake. We don't want to overdo the calcium because Bertrand is prone to kidney stones, but we do want to optimize the calcium while bombing his system with vitamin D. We'll adjust his diet accordingly.
• Medication: Along with monitoring levels of vitamin D, calcium, etc., we'll also keep an eye on medication levels and limit those with negative interactions whenever possible. Bertrand will have a Ph test done during his EGD in early March to see if staying on prevacid is necessary now that he is older.
• Sunshine: While sunburns are a big no no, Bertrand will be encouraged to spend lots more time outside with minimal sunscreen to improve vitamin D absorption.
• Water Therapy: To encourage weight bearing with minimal resistance, Bertrand will begin water therapy. This task is being gratefully delegated to Bertrand's Nana, who is a swimmer & enjoys the water. (I detest pools, the beach, and even bathtubs.)
• Stander Time: Bertrand will have his stander re-adjusted at Shriners and we'll become religious about building up his tolerance back up to 2 hours in the stander daily.

PS - Bertrand's pediatrician will take Victoria (Bertrand's sister due in April) on as a new patient even though her office says that she is not taking any more! :) It is such a relief that any early warning signs will be caught!

PPS - Bertrand is back to having horrible drop seizures and myoclonus. We're hoping that he's either sick, or it's the increase in Lamictal, or the drop of the Zonegran, and not his pharmacoresistance rearing its ugly head again. He'll be seeing his neurologist tomorrow. We'll be talking depakote.