Well we left Dubai at the end of January to return back to Florida because of our worries about Max’s back. In May, 2014 he was diagnosed with scoliosis and prescribed a Boston Brace which was made in a tiny little shop on a side street of Dubai. The brace was very heavy and rather archaic (and expensive) and he really could not sit or live life in it and was supposed to have this on for 23 hours a day.
So after researching options, we headed back to the US for another opinion. There however they discovered his curvature had gone from low 30s to 47% plus he has kurtosis. The doctors at All Children’s Hospital (a part of Johns Hopkins) immediately said there was no option but surgery and he was scheduled in for April 23.
So now two days before that, we are trying to get all the pre-op appointments out of the way. His cardiology appointment has left questions and we have to go back tomorrow (hours before surgery) for another test plus visit with doctor. We do not know yet what that is going to uncover but hope it won’t delay surgery or be anything serious.
With Max’s permission. we are putting pictures of his back onto the blog so that he can remember what it looked like and understand how important the surgery is. We will all need to remember that with a 6-7 hour surgery ahead plus 6 days in the hospital. Then it’s going to be many weeks and months until he is back to regular level. Daunting to be facing.
Max is the most amazing young man though. When facing this he was optimistic and said, “well at least he would plenty of excuse to lie around and play video games.” He is also mid-negotiations as to how much disability pay he should be receiving if he cannot physically do his chores.
Max: Age 12. Scoliosis and Kurtosis Pictures
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