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1 and a half year checkup

Writer's picture: AmberAmber

I can’t even begin to express the joy…. Scoliosis curve now at a 15. Yes, I said 15. By the way, pre surgery was 53, for those unaware. :)


We saw Nicole Tweedy today (Dr. Dan’s nurse practitioner) for his one and a half year checkup. 


·         The tether is still in place and working

·         He’s growing some more – we’re now at 5 foot 8+…. Yes, just an itty bitty titch away from 5 foot 9.

·         Sanders scale – 4 (Reminder, 8 is full maturity)


At his last appointment, they predicted by looking at his hand x-ray that he was probably almost done growing, saying he would cap out 5 foot 9. Today with a hand x-ray still being the same number, Saunders scale 4, she’s now predicting he will probably be 6 foot. For the record that is taller than both dad and mom. The young man was a wee bit happy with that prediction:). 


To refresh those new to his blog, they X-ray his hand to see how much growing he has left, or how much development the bones still have left. It’s important to know this because of the tether. 


She said studies show that when breakage on the tether occurs, it usually occurs between year 2 and 3. So we’re not out of the woods yet but she said “at this point, if the tether were to break, it would not be life altering”. Praise the Lord!


One more exciting piece…. Dr. Dan said his goal, going into surgery, is to get the child’s curve to a 20. He’s even straighter… a 15. :). Also, even better, she said “you’re like every other normal spine out there dude”


Yes!!!!  His flexibility is amazing. 


At the two year mark, we get another PFT (pulmonary function test). This is the test he did before surgery to test his lung function. This will be the magic moment…. To really see how much this surgery has improved his lung capacity by no longer being squished by a crooked spine. 


Nicole had a resident in the office with her today so this resident got to see his spine before and after and said “WOW!”  I agree doc. I agree. Once again, praise the Lord for the creation of this life changing surgery. 


VBT gave my son his life back.






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