Next, Last?, Surgery Scheduled

I have set up Sam's next surgery for August 18. He will have the plate on R femur removed and the flexible titanium nails inside his L femur removed. We have planned an overnight stay for pain control. the surgery starts at noon, we report at 10:30. We will have x-rays taken just before that so a little earlier than 10:30. I want to check on his back. he complains occasionally of back pain. If he was a typlical kid I wouldn't worry about it. However I know that there is FD in several vertabrate and the spondylothesis between L5 and S1. I just want a baseline of where he is. His limp is also variable, sometimes almost unoticable, this past sunday i saw him dragging his R foot. The morning of his surgery will be a challenge to keep him away from food and drink. I think I'll try to find a pool for an early swim. I also want to plan a family trip to a water park before the surgery since he will not be able to swim for a few weeks after surgery until the surgical scar completly heals.

I found an x-ray on line that shows why we need to get the hardware out now: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2656851/
I am having trouble getting the link to work to just the pictures. If you go to the article then scroll to the end, you will see two x-rays showing hardware with bone grown over it.

Note to my self....

Just a quick post so I remember....Sam complained of a head ache as I put him to bed on Thrdsday, July 14. He woke up ealy the next morning crying because is leg hurt. I helped him move and recover himself and he went back to sleep. He didn't remember anything about it when hegot up for the day later on. Over all his endurance seems to be geting better and he doesn't have the general drained, weakness he had before surgery. We are off to swim this afternoon on this hot huid day!

6 week follow up

Basicaly Sam is doing great. We went to see the nuerosurgeon today for a follow up. Sam can finally get his feet off the ground. A couple of weeks ago I saw some buldging by his scar, it only lasted a caouple of days and he did not seem bothered by it. Dr said it was likely a small leak that was reasorbed. He said that the "dust hasn't settled yet," and this, along with headaches, could happen for 6 months. One thing new doctor said is that he was thinking that the chiari wasn't that bad and he wouldn't need to open the dura before surgery, but during the surgery it was worse than he thought so that is why he opened the dura and put in a patch. Sam has no restrictions and general anesthia will be even safer than it was before. Sam will not need an MRI as a follow up unless there are symptoms. it's not worth the sedation and all. We go back to see the doctor in 6 to 12 months. 6 months if there are problems and more 12 months if there are none.I also asked about checking other kids since many other parents I meet on the internet seem to be told to have thier other kids checked. Our doctor said that there is only a 5 percent increased chance of a first order relative also having it. In all if there are no symptoms, don't look.