As many of you know, my youngest son was born with a congenital defect of one of his vertebrae. During the process of his getting diagnosed we also found out he only has one kidney. This was all discovered shortly after he turned one. He is now 2 1/2 and over the past year and a half he has undergone many x-rays, and MRI, an ultrasound, an ecocardiogram, a series of awful tests to check to see if his only kidney was functioning properly (and it was...perfectly :)), and many evaluations. Fortunately his doctor, at Boston Children's Hospital, is one of the top orthopedic surgeons in the country - one very good benefit of staying in this area.
After ruling out some congenital syndromes that could have been much more serious than a defective vertabrae, his doctor told us that surgery was inevitable. Now my oldest son was born with a cleft palate which was repaired when he was 12 months old, and I was a complete basket case the night before his surgery. And while what Jacob went through was major surgery, it seems minor compared to back surgery. Needless to say I am a bit anxious about the whole thing.
Initially his doctor thought surgery would need to occur within 6 months. He assumed that every time Micah came into his office to have an x-ray/check-up, that his back would have gotten progressively worse. Well, in September the x-ray showed a slight improvement, which was not "normal" for this condition. Last Friday he had another x-ray and there was, again, a slight improvement, which gave his doctor the confidence to tell us that Micah didn't need to be checked again for an entire year. I am so thankful! Surgery still seems inevitable, but the older he is, the better I'll feel about it. And who knows, this "flicted" vertabrae (as I like to call it) could continue to improve. I'm just grateful for any good news that comes my way. The doctor told us last week that Micah's got about a mild a case as one could get with this condition. Thank God!!!!
It reminds me of when I had an area of basel cell carcinoma removed from my arm. The doctor told me, "If you going to get cancer, this is the one to get." To me, that is good news!
3 comments:
Great news on ALL accounts! That's awesome!
Then that's what we'll pray for & believe, that his vertebrae will continue to improve to the point that his back is better than all of ours!
We'll be praying as well.
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