Kate's Fat Toe Mystery

Fat toe (L foot) and swollen metatarsals (R foot).
Cute, tiny pedicure (both feet).

It's time to finally take a breather and post a thorough update on what's going on with our little Kate!  Many know that in August 2016 she unexpectedly spent a week at Valley Children's Hospital in Madera.  How she got there is a bit surprising and confusing!

 

In late April or early May of 2016, she took a small tumble down a few of our stairs in the house.  We didn't think much of it until a few days later when I noticed one of her feet was swollen.  I assumed it would calm down in a day or two, but it didn't.  I took her to the pediatrician, thinking maybe she had broken something, and they told me no way it could be broken -- she would be screaming in pain and wouldn't be able to stand on it.  However, they said, if it's not better in another week or so, come back for a re-check. 

 

About a week later, I noticed she also had a fat toe!  This was on the opposite foot.  So, I took her back to the pediatrician and this time we saw her doc, instead of the on-call.  He seemed concerned and questioned me quite extensively about her activities, history, symptoms.  He decided we should have an x-ray, but it was inconclusive -- no sign of any break or fracture.  Again, we were told to keep an eye on it and look out for other symptoms.  We were now into June of 2016.

 

By July of 2016, the swelling was still present and seemed to be slightly worse.  Since I had had a stress fracture in my foot a year ago, and it was only discovered via digital x-ray with a podiatrist (not by a conventional x-ray), I decided to make her an appointment with the podiatrist I had seen.  I was hoping he could identify some kind of hairline fracture that wasn't captured on the regular x-ray.  What an ordeal to get a little one (just over 2 years old!) to hold still for an x-ray!  The podiatrist couldn't see any sign of a fracture in her foot but there was definitely something strange looking around her fat toe and the metatarsal area of her other foot -- almost like the bones were "swollen."  He wasn't sure what to make of it so he suggested that he should refer her out for an MRI at Valley Children's.  We had no idea what we were getting into!

 

SKH