Hi! My name is Laurie and I have a son, Justan who will be 16 in June. I also have 2 other sons, Chris (13) and Brayden (9). I am a single mom in New Brunswick, Canada.
Justan was diagnosed in 2003 with scoliosis. He's been monitored by his orthopedic surgeon each year until about 1 1/2 years ago when his appointments were stepped up to every 6 months. On January 29, we were told that Justan will require surgery. His top curve is 50+ degrees and the bottom is 40+. I'm just getting used to the scoliosis terminology, so please bear with me...
Justan has a tenative date for surgery on June 26. They cannot absolutely confirm this date though, until one month prior to surgery. We are both scared and pretty unprepared.
I have asked for time off work to be with him during surgery, his hospital stay, and while he recovers at home. Any idea how much time until Justan is ok to stay alone, prepare simple meals, etc. without mom around? I have asked for 6-8 weeks off, but I'm not sure if I'm off the mark here or not?
Since we're on our own on this, I need to be prepared for his arrival home before we head into surgery. What devices/gadgets/etc. did you find helpful? Which were a waste of money? How did your teen occupy his time while he recovered? When will he be able to climb stairs? He'll have to climb 4 or 5 stairs to get up onto our deck at home when he gets out of the hospital...will this be hard for him?
Gee, I'm sorry to bombard you with sooo many questions. For each one I type, I can come up with 5 more....
Anyhow, I've been reading your posts, and find them very helpful. I look forward to getting to know you guys, and hope that we can support each other during this very trying time....
Laurie & Justan
Justan was diagnosed in 2003 with scoliosis. He's been monitored by his orthopedic surgeon each year until about 1 1/2 years ago when his appointments were stepped up to every 6 months. On January 29, we were told that Justan will require surgery. His top curve is 50+ degrees and the bottom is 40+. I'm just getting used to the scoliosis terminology, so please bear with me...
Justan has a tenative date for surgery on June 26. They cannot absolutely confirm this date though, until one month prior to surgery. We are both scared and pretty unprepared.
I have asked for time off work to be with him during surgery, his hospital stay, and while he recovers at home. Any idea how much time until Justan is ok to stay alone, prepare simple meals, etc. without mom around? I have asked for 6-8 weeks off, but I'm not sure if I'm off the mark here or not?
Since we're on our own on this, I need to be prepared for his arrival home before we head into surgery. What devices/gadgets/etc. did you find helpful? Which were a waste of money? How did your teen occupy his time while he recovered? When will he be able to climb stairs? He'll have to climb 4 or 5 stairs to get up onto our deck at home when he gets out of the hospital...will this be hard for him?
Gee, I'm sorry to bombard you with sooo many questions. For each one I type, I can come up with 5 more....
Anyhow, I've been reading your posts, and find them very helpful. I look forward to getting to know you guys, and hope that we can support each other during this very trying time....
Laurie & Justan
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