Update on my son's DR appt
Andrew, my oldest son, seen the pediatric orthopedic specialist today in Mobile. He was diagnosed with Scheuermann kyphosis. The normal curve is typically 20-50 degrees. Andrew's is 80.5 degrees! He will require surgery to correct this, but he will never be completely "straight." Since this degree is so severe, once corrected Andrew will gain 2-3" in height. Right now we are trying to decide when is the best time to do the surgery. 1) school starts Aug 6 2) I start my internship Aug 20 3) His dad's job requires A LOT of traveling. The surgery will be 6 hours long, 5-6 days in the hospital and possibly physical therapy after surgery. Also, he would have to miss 8-10 weeks of school(yes, we can get homebound services), but we really don't want that for him since this would further isolate him from peers. I will be talking with the doctor again and seeing if we wait for surgery until next summer if it would cause further health problems. Please pray for my son and our family. Thanks, Beth
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT TOMMORROW, GOD IS ALREADY THERE!"
JULIE 
Certified OH Support Group Leader - Weigh Down (Baldwin County)
RNY 1/17/06
on 7/7/08 7:37 pm
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.
Please feel free to email me about the Kyphosis....there is very little on the internet about this and my daughter had 95 degree curvature when she got her surgery two years ago. This is not a surgery to be taken lightly. However, without correction it can be fatal, depending on how old he is there are other options I would do first. Please email me so I can help you through this. For example, if he's under 18--he has not finished growing yet, he can be put in a brace. The surgery is VERY dangerous--my daughter's was 12 hours. Remeber they're working near the spinal cord here--the possibility of being paralized is very possible. Whatever you do, get another opinion or two before you do surgery and please, go to a teaching hospital such as Stanford, Boston, etc for one of them. My daughter was in the hospital for 6 weeks and she had no complications. Then she was flat on her back in bed for another 4 weeks....I had to do everything for her, wash her, help her sit up, move her so she didn't get bedsores, bring in a wheelchair, a rail to help push up in bed, etc. etc. I don't mean to paint a dreary picture, but you should be aware that there was NO WAY I could have worked and taken care of her. She needed 24/7 attention for at least 3 months. Then there's the pain drugs and the possibility of addiction, before you have the surgery make sure you get a manager who understands this condition. Find someone who just doesn't hand out pain pills, but takes a comprensive approach through physical therapy, mental therapy, and has a plan for getting your child off pain medications as quickly as possible. We also had home services for school, but there was no way she could keep up. She actually just had to drop out for a year and return the next year to finish. So, she missed her Senior year of high school, but went back to finish the next year. The docs we saw said 2-3 months for recovery also--ask them what that means to them. When I asked (after the fact) what he meant by that because I was concerned that she wasn't healing, he said he meant that at that time she should be able to get up and walk around for short periods and handle her own bathroom and showering needs. It's been two years in September and she still cannot lift more than about 10 lbs, but she is finally fully recovered. She hates the rods though and wants them out. She says she can still feel them in her body. She did gain 3" in height, but the mental regression and loss of confidence that she could do things herself has been the biggest challenge. Please email me for more info. [email protected]
