Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

2nd followup went well - Surgery set for August 20th

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • 2nd followup went well - Surgery set for August 20th

    The doctor wanted to wait until August 5th appt. to take the 2nd set of xrays, 6 month span. Maybe it is because my son had only grown 1/4 inch in 2 months. But I am concerned about the increase rotation I think I see in his back. I guess it doesn't really matter since we have surgery scheduled August 20th.

    Surgery is not an easy decision; we haven’t been living with Scoli that long and have no pain. My son thinks logically he will have pain later in life given is large curve size, but also understands that rods and a fused spine aren't problem free either.

    Our doctor is comfortable waiting to see how he does with his curves - growth and gravity, he has patients he continues to watch with big curves. Most of his surgeries are in older adults and revisions, so he says Shane will be an easy procedure for him. The hardest part is where to stop the fusion. He does work with a Neurosurgeon during part of the surgery to do osteotomies - to help correct rotation.

    He was very clear of the uncertainty about the lumbar not straightening out, but felt given his age it was worth the effort to stop short and see what happens. He said we'd know in 3-6 months post opt.

    He expects to do a mild correction since we are still contending with a compensatory curve and needs to have room for a slight curve down there. His goal is to have him balanced: head and shoulders.

    He was fine with the acne clear up, yay. He did recommend taking 1000mg Vitamin D and 1500mg of Calcium.

    So for the rest of the summer we will just try to have fun and not think about the upcoming surgery.
    Mom to son with new straight spine 8/15/2013 T16, L16
    Pre op T65, L?
    diagnosed 2/21/13 T55, L42

  • #2
    Hi there.

    It sounds like you have a good plan and a great surgeon.

    The comments about not doing a hyper-correction are in line with what our surgeon did with my one daughter with a false double... they do not hyper-correct those curves because it does not tend to balance out and the left shoulder is sometimes left high if corrected too much. So her T curve was corrected to mid twenties and her lumbar curve corrected on its own to match that. Her shoulders are even so she was balanced that way.

    It's a game of cutting losses.

    Good luck.
    Sharon, mother of identical twin girls with scoliosis

    No island of sanity.

    Question: What do you call alternative medicine that works?
    Answer: Medicine


    "We are all African."

    Comment

    Working...
    X