We took Caden to see the pediatric orthopedics clinic at MUSC this past week. We ended up having the discussion that we expected, about surgery. The x-rays taken on Monday showed that Caden’s scoliosis curve has progressed to 73 degrees up from 68 degrees in March. Passing the 70 degree mark was a mild stone that we were not looking forward to. According to the orthopedic surgeon a child with a 70 degree scoliosis curve should have surgery to implant rods because the benefit of the rods become less effective on curves greater than 80 degrees and in many cases a severe curve will begin to take up space in the chest cavity that prevents the heart and lungs from developing and functioning correctly. The photo on the right is from an x-ray taken of Caden when his curve was at about 54 degrees a little over two years ago. This was taken from the front. What the picture does not show is that the curve on the right side of his body is that the spine is also curing into his chest cavity.
There are two primary types of straightening devices for children with scoliosis. One is a growing rod and the other is a VEPTR rod. The growing rods are attached to the spine itself. With Caden they are planning to use the VEPTR rods. The top end of the rods are attached to the rib cage and the lower end of the rods are attached to the pelvis. Once the rods are inserted into Caden’s back he will have adjustment surgeries about every six months until he is 12-13 years old. At that time they will remove the rods and fuse Caden’s spine to prevent the curve from reoccurring.
We do not have a surgery date for Caden but we are shooting for mid to late September. We have a vacation in early September that will also be tied with a stop at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital where Caden will see a multi-disciplinary team that specializes in feeding and swallowing.
This week Caden will see his cardiologist. We do not expect any surprises there. Caden’s last open-heart surgery was nearly two years ago when they performed a Ross procedure.
in other news, I have battled some spells of illness over the past 12 to 18 months. I have had nearly a dozen episodes of nausea and diarrhea that last about 24-36 hours. No one else in the family gets sick and the illness does not seem to linked to food since nearly every time the whole family has eaten the same thing. Our new family care doctor agrees with Sherry that this is not “a bug”. I have been referred to a GI specialist and will be getting a wide variety of tests completed over the next two weeks.
Please keep Caden and the rest of our family in your prayers.