Buddy’s Ongoing Medical Drama

It has been a while, so I figured I would post something. Cryptic comments on Facebook don’t always cut it.

As for me, I am healing still. Because the surgery was full open, it is a bit slower going. I had a bout with infection, so I was doing wound care for a bit with a run of antibiotics. I made it to my family reunion, but I was in a lot of pain. I regret that my vacation is coming so soon. While I am excited for it, I am kind of bummed I will be spending it mostly in my wheelchair. Every year something happens to ruin (and mostly cancel) our vacations. I am determined to go…we have not gotten many REAL trips since 2008.

But mostly this is about Buddy. We met with the actual surgeon at the DuPont Children’s Hospital in Delaware. (Last visit, that I missed, was a consult with just one of the specialists.) The surgeon was very nice, and it looks like we are FINALLY going ahead with surgery. He told us that in more than 90% of cases, a spinal fusion is not needed. But Buddy’s break needs intervention. It took a long time, and a LOT of doctors to get to this point. It is a shame we must go to Delaware to get the help he needs, but for the best because there are better doctors. This children’s hospital is doing a less invasive version of the operation, meaning less hospital time and quicker recovery!!! Down from an estimate of a week in the hospital, he will spend about 2-3 days. And down from estimates of 6-12 months, he could be back in school by perhaps 3-4 months.

As a refresher for those who do not want to look back (recently also posted on Facebook):

Buddy has a fracture at his L5 on his spine. It progressed into a worse break, a slippage (spondylolisthesis), a slipped disc, arthritis, etc. This all kinda originated from him having spina bifida occulta plus a growth spurt (over 1 foot in one summer!) Because of all of the stress on his back because of these two things, it left him vulnerable to the other things. Buddy has not healed in over 2 years, and the opinion is that he will not heal without surgical intervention. Unfortunately, multiple doctors by us will not operate because of his age.