Waiting on the MRI but trying to stay positive.

Ps
Thanks for "listening".

Twotex,

I wish your son the best of health going forward. We had a similiar situation with our son. We had an MRI done as a pre-caution. There was no damage, and he had to lay off throwing for 6-8 weeks in the Fall. While the MRI was limited to the elbow, it was not inexpensive even though we have decent insurance...it burned a hole in our flex account. But, I would do the same thing (MRI) all over again if I had to (3 pitchers in the household). There was a lot of relief in knowing exactly what the problem is and how to avoid it. As it turns out, some weight lifting exercises seemed to be the culprit....he doesn't do that exercise any more. Again, I hope all turns out well and he can figure out how to get healthy soon. Best of luck.

My son tore his acl freshman year. He is a junior now with D1 prospects. Tough road but help him keep is head up. I used lots of "come back" news articles to help him. Best of luck.

quote:

Originally posted by fenwaysouth:
Twotex,

While the MRI was limited to the elbow, it was not inexpensive even though we have decent insurance...it burned a hole in our flex account.

While MRI's can be expensive, check with your insurance carrier. I recently found out I can get a "prefered rate" at a particular provider that we would rather go to. Would have liked to have known that earlier -- would have saved several thousand dollars over the years.

And good luck. Probably just needs rest and some rehab.

As a parent, I know exactly what you guys feel like. My son, Lucas Giolito came down with a strained UCL about a month ago. He's is considered one of the top MLB prospects for this year's 2012 MLB Draft and could possibly have been the first RH HS Pitcher in history to go #1. You can imagine that the news hit him & us pretty hard. The day after the diagnosis, rather than dwelling on it, Lucas smiled broadly and said, "that's in the past, I'm looking forward". He has and he will be back. Best of luck to you and your son.

twotex,

Here's hoping every thing goes your son's way and he has a quick recovery. He can still feel like he is contributing in the meanwhile by hitting that ball. One of the good things about this site is that there are plenty of us willing to listen, because sooner or later we're the ones that need to talk about temporary setbacks or disappointments.

Aldoinla,

Hope your son as well will quickly mend and get right back to following his dreams!

I have a son that is an 8th grader now... two years ago, he broke both bones in his left arm falling down an embankment. Missed his 12 year old season.

Last May he separated the growth plate in his shoulder missed his 13 year old summer ball season, after 5 months of nothing but rest, and 4 months of therapy he came back this season to pitch. In his third start yesterday, his growth plate snapped in his elbow, he is scheduled for surgery Tuesday morning and will miss the rest of this season .....High school try-outs for next season are this July...hopefully he can at least make an appearance and tryout again in the spring. He is depressed, he is ****ed, but he is not out, he plans on coming back again. I told him it's not how many times you get knocked down but how many times you get up... we are hopeful .... but this has been a very trying time.

Optimism is success's biggest ally. Patience is success's most important trait. Best of luck to those who are going through these trying times and keep us posted, please.

Good luck to your son , hope all turns out well .

Twotex and Aldoinla,

Agree with JH whose journey is well documented in his blog...Thanks to these newer technologies that we can pinpoint where the root of the problem is and with the latest surgical techniques repair it if needed and prevent further damage if there's nothing broken.

I wish both your son's well so they can continue to pursue their dreams. I understand the anxiety while waiting or undergoing rehabilitation but being optimistic will help you persevere.

Thanks all. The input and positive thoughts are much appreciated.

quote:

Originally posted by bacdorslider:
I have a son that is an 8th grader now... two years ago, he broke both bones in his left arm falling down an embankment. Missed his 12 year old season.

Last May he separated the growth plate in his shoulder missed his 13 year old summer ball season, after 5 months of nothing but rest, and 4 months of therapy he came back this season to pitch. In his third start yesterday, his growth plate snapped in his elbow, he is scheduled for surgery Tuesday morning and will miss the rest of this season .....High school try-outs for next season are this July...hopefully he can at least make an appearance and tryout again in the spring. He is depressed, he is ****ed, but he is not out, he plans on coming back again. I told him it's not how many times you get knocked down but how many times you get up... we are hopeful .... but this has been a very trying time.

Ah jeez, your son has been through alot. I hate to hear stories like this. I'll be thinking of him and wish him the best. Tell him from Lucas and I to be patient and keep working hard.

Thanks I will tell him, he is young and has time to recover, I think having two older brothers in HS will help him through his freshman year. I wish nothing but the best for your son, I will keep up with his career.

twotex - I wish your son the very best result. Let us know.

Twotex, Aldo and Bacdor-wishing all your boys a speedy and COMPLETE recovery from their injuries!

Update - went to a different doctor (one who has treated many high school and college players) who said that he thinks this is nothing structural. He's prescribed PT and follow up in 2 weeks.

I hate to grab your thread, but I thought I would give a little update, Sone has had two tiatnium screws placed in elbow, surgen says he should have cast for a month, then a sling and PT for 6 weeks and then another month after that, start tossing....sounds optimistic,

quote:

Originally posted by twotex:
Update - went to a different doctor (one who has treated many high school and college players) who said that he thinks this is nothing structural. He's prescribed PT and follow up in 2 weeks.

Glad to hear the doctor didn't think it was structural...Did your son have the MRI?

Our son went though an impingement as a junior, my best advice is not to push it...give the shoulder time to heal.

quote:

Originally posted by bacdorslider:
I hate to grab your thread, but I thought I would give a little update, Sone has had two tiatnium screws placed in elbow, surgen says he should have cast for a month, then a sling and PT for 6 weeks and then another month after that, start tossing....sounds optimistic,

My son had the same injury and surgery last August. He has no pitched in 3 HS games and is just now getting back to the pitcher he was. It is a long slow frustrating process but he has to stay positive. There is never a good time for an injury but since he is younger it shouldn't effect him much.

twotex,

That is great news. Best of luck with the PT.

PT starts today. Son seems positive.

In answer to the question, he did not have the MRI. My thought is that if he is going to need surgery, he is going to miss the spring/summer/fall recruiting season anyway.

At this point, he is having a lot of fun DH'ing on his high school team, contributing, getting his name in the paper, etc. He is also a good student, and I don't want to mess with his academics at this point by having the surgery. So if he needs surgery (hopefully not - dr says 95% chance he won't), then we will face that this summer with the hopes he can play his senior season, get into a good academic DIII, and play if he is able to make the team.

That's my thought process. I can understand that others might take a different view.

quote:

Originally posted by twotex:
PT starts today. Son seems positive.

In answer to the question, he did not have the MRI. My thought is that if he is going to need surgery, he is going to miss the spring/summer/fall recruiting season anyway.

At this point, he is having a lot of fun DH'ing on his high school team, contributing, getting his name in the paper, etc. He is also a good student, and I don't want to mess with his academics at this point by having the surgery. So if he needs surgery (hopefully not - dr says 95% chance he won't), then we will face that this summer with the hopes he can play his senior season, get into a good academic DIII, and play if he is able to make the team.

That's my thought process. I can understand that others might take a different view.

Glad to hear things are going well. Good luck with the PT.

So nice to have HS ball finally in full swing up here, isn't it?

It took forever for the season to get here!

UPDATE: Good news from the sports doc today. He says my son has had an amazing recovery, and can start throwing some more.

I've learned a lot about GIRD and strengthening the upper back. My thought is that what my son has learned through this relatively minor injury may help prevent something worse happening down the road.

Thanks for all the good wishes. Keep your fingers crossed that he might see time behind the plate before the HS season ends.

Great News Twotex!

Good news, tex.

Love the positive spin on that. I am sure it DID help prevent something worse.

Good luck to your son in his recovery.

My pitcher son is working through GIRD now, It has cost him almost the whole season and he has been dropped from his summer team.

He was mis-diagnosed by the D1 team docs as bicep-tendinitis. He was told that it just needed rest and wouldn't get any worse in the fall. So, he continued to pitch ineffectively. He went from 88 – 91 to 84 – 86.

I saw him this spring after his transfer (DIII) and saw the same results. We took him to an othro doc right away. He was told he had GIRD and scapular-dyskinesis(sp). Doc told him this was a common throwing condition and he was risking rotator and labrum injuries if he continued to throw. His scapula was very pronounced in his follow through.

He has been doing PT for over a month now and has just start back doing some short toss. It doesn’t appear that any long term damage was done. We will know when he goes back to the docs in May.

Thank goodness we took him for a second opinion. We just wish we would have done so in fall and had him shut down then. Now we are looking to get him a Medical Waiver for this year.

Philsfan, sounds very similar. We were very fortunate to find the second ortho who started him on PT immediately.

Good luck to your son.

Good news twotex!

philsfan, I hope that tings work out for your son. I understand how a misdiagnosis can really set back a player and how frustrating it can be.

Best of luck to all, keep up the hard work!

Thanks for the good wishes

Son was back behind the dish for the first time in weeks. Looked a bit rusty bit not bad. He's not back to where he was before the injury, but at least he's moving forward.

Here's what I learned from this experience:

1. Being injured is very tough of on the player. My son was a bit lost, and I think, depressed. I underestimated that aspect of it. I was very proud of the fact that he never complained, cheered on his teammates, shagged foul balls, etc, but I saw how hard it was on him.

2. Don't be shy about getting second opinions. What the doctor says should make sense, and if it doesn't, keep asking questions or find a new doctor.

3. See a doctor experienced in treating baseball players.

In my son's case, the injury resulted in my son changing trainers and training programs. His former trainer denied there was an issue and rejected the input from the doctor and physical therapist. Very negative, which was not helping. His new trainer has excellent experience working with baseball players, as well as with injury recovery.