Hi.
I got some very helpful information from this forum a few months ago, so here I am, asking for your input again. I apologize in advance for the long post.
My son was diagnosed with a curve of ~20˚ when he was 7 years old. His doctor recommended watching and waiting, which we did until he was 12, at which point the curve progressed to more than 25˚ and he was braced. He's had the brace for the past 2.5 years, but he hasn't been compliant. His curve was measured again in November and his current doctor--Dr. Green at HSS in NYC--read it as 50˚ and recommended surgery. We panicked and took him to Dr. Vitale at Columbia in NYC, who measured it as 42˚ and said, wait. Just to confuse ourselves more, we then went to Dr. Betz at Shriners in Philly who got a measurement of 48˚ and also recommended surgery.
My first reaction was to see if we could avoid the surgery no matter what--it is one scary-sounding operation! However, my son is beginning to look deformed--noticeably curved and hunched. (I overheard one of his friends say something to him about it.) Drs. Betz and Green both say this is a much easier operation to recover from at a younger age. (When I saw Dr. Vitale I was in the say-it-ain't-so mode, so I didn't ask him about younger v older.) So we're coming around to the idea of surgery sooner rather than later.
My dilemma is this. Even though my son has been seeing Dr. Green for several years, he's not my favorite person. I realize you don't have to love your surgeon, but I haven't been able to get feedback about him on this forum or anywhere else. Dr. Vitale seems great to me, but he's saying wait; in the meanwhile, I'm watching my son get more bent over before my eyes. Dr. Betz also seems great, but he no longer performs the surgery himself--he has a team of surgeons who work for him, none of whom we've met. An additional drawback is that Dr. Betz is in Philadelphia, which means the surgery, the pre-op testing and the follow up would be in Philadelphia. We live in Manhattan and we don't own a car. We can rent one, but then my son would have to take a 2-hour drive home 6 or 7 days post surgery, which sounds like torture to me.
We've tentatively scheduled the surgery with Dr. Green for 5/26, but I have a lot of misgivings about it. We're seeing Dr. Vitale again in March, and I find myself in the curious position of thinking I will try to talk a doctor into performing surgery! Unless we go ahead with Green or one of Betz's guys. I would appreciate other people's views on this.
Help! Thanks.
I got some very helpful information from this forum a few months ago, so here I am, asking for your input again. I apologize in advance for the long post.
My son was diagnosed with a curve of ~20˚ when he was 7 years old. His doctor recommended watching and waiting, which we did until he was 12, at which point the curve progressed to more than 25˚ and he was braced. He's had the brace for the past 2.5 years, but he hasn't been compliant. His curve was measured again in November and his current doctor--Dr. Green at HSS in NYC--read it as 50˚ and recommended surgery. We panicked and took him to Dr. Vitale at Columbia in NYC, who measured it as 42˚ and said, wait. Just to confuse ourselves more, we then went to Dr. Betz at Shriners in Philly who got a measurement of 48˚ and also recommended surgery.
My first reaction was to see if we could avoid the surgery no matter what--it is one scary-sounding operation! However, my son is beginning to look deformed--noticeably curved and hunched. (I overheard one of his friends say something to him about it.) Drs. Betz and Green both say this is a much easier operation to recover from at a younger age. (When I saw Dr. Vitale I was in the say-it-ain't-so mode, so I didn't ask him about younger v older.) So we're coming around to the idea of surgery sooner rather than later.
My dilemma is this. Even though my son has been seeing Dr. Green for several years, he's not my favorite person. I realize you don't have to love your surgeon, but I haven't been able to get feedback about him on this forum or anywhere else. Dr. Vitale seems great to me, but he's saying wait; in the meanwhile, I'm watching my son get more bent over before my eyes. Dr. Betz also seems great, but he no longer performs the surgery himself--he has a team of surgeons who work for him, none of whom we've met. An additional drawback is that Dr. Betz is in Philadelphia, which means the surgery, the pre-op testing and the follow up would be in Philadelphia. We live in Manhattan and we don't own a car. We can rent one, but then my son would have to take a 2-hour drive home 6 or 7 days post surgery, which sounds like torture to me.
We've tentatively scheduled the surgery with Dr. Green for 5/26, but I have a lot of misgivings about it. We're seeing Dr. Vitale again in March, and I find myself in the curious position of thinking I will try to talk a doctor into performing surgery! Unless we go ahead with Green or one of Betz's guys. I would appreciate other people's views on this.
Help! Thanks.
Comment