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From: Kristen Hertzog
Date: 31 Oct 1999
Time: 10:43:55
Remote Name: 63.20.74.131
Hello, my name is Kristen Hertzog. I'm 15 and I have what is called, SCFE or slipped capitol femural epiphysis. SCFE is a hip problem that starts if part of the growing end (the epiphysis) of the thigh bone (the femur) slips off from the top of the thigh bone. SCFE may develop in one leg first or it may occur in both legs at the same time.
I was 10 when I started having pain in my left hip. My mom kind of wrote it off as "growing pains." Then, after about a month of asking her to make me a doctor appointment, she made one with an orthopaedic surgeon. After 3 x-rays, we were told that I was going into the hospital the next day to have surgery. It was a real shock.
After surgery I was doing fine, and I got back to normal.
At age 13, the pains that I had in my left hip, were now in my right. I went back to the doctor and he took some x-rays and said that there was nothing abnormal showing up on them. Just to be safe, he made an appointment for me to get a bone scan. Well, I went and found out that I had SCFE in my right hip also. I went back to him and he scheduled my surgery for the next day.
Now I'm fine. I have yearly check-ups to make sure there is no complications (there is a risk of getting avascular necrosis, a lack of blood flow to the bone and chondrolysis, decay of cartilage)