Today we met with Reuben's Spinal Surgeon to discuss Reuben's surgery next week and sign the consent forms, but after seeing the x-rays and looking at Reuben he decided that he needs to perform another operation before the procedure to insert the growing rods. They are going to do the 2 surgeries together at the same time.
Reuben's x-ray's show that the curve has worsened again and is now at 60 degrees and he has a significant rib rotation with a stiffness to the bones so what they will do first is access the spine from the side, deflate his right lung and remove some of his spinal discs, making the stiffness less and ensuring a better outcome for the next part of the surgery which is to place titanium rods either side of his spine held in place with screws and hooks at the top and bottom. Every 6 months another operation will be performed to lengthen the rods until he is a teenager when he will have a spinal fusion. The rods he is having will go down lower than usual due to the positions of the curves.
Overall the surgery will take about 6-7 hours and he will have a recovery time now of approx. 7-8 days in hospital with a few weeks at home before he can start to go back to nursery. On Wednesday we go to the hospital for more blood tests, to meet with the surgeon again and to sign the consent forms again, and then we all stay overnight until Thursday, he has to be on the ward at 7.30am to be prepared for theatre. Esther is staying with us at the accommodation and then she will see Reuben before he goes to theatre and then she'll be going back to school. After all that new information this morning our heads are a bit bamboozled!
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