Paris’ Surgery-Growing Rods
Hello everyone,
I just wanted to give you all an update on Paris as we have decided to go ahead with another much needed surgery to place growing rods in attempts to correct her spine. She will undergo adjustments every 6 months to improve the curve approx. 20 degrees over a span of 4-5 years ( a slow process) from tumor impact upon diagnosis. Her surgery date is scheduled for Tuesday March 15 here in Chicago at Childrens. The surgery will be between 4-6 hours and the approximate recovery time is 5 days inpatient and 3 weeks to fully recover. Curves to her degree are usually seen in older individuals, but since hers is very significant (56 degrees) therefore needs to be corrected before the bones harden and it causes a permanent deformity…plus I have to try to squeeze it in between our every 3 months scans. Please keep Paris in your thoughts and prayers next week as she again faces another surgery.
More specific information about the surgery is below if interested to hear about the details ect…
We had Paris’ final consultation with the orthopedic surgeon yesterday evening and discussed the procedures regarding her upcoming surgery. The surgery is scheduled for March 15. She will have growing rods placed, allowing the spine to be expanded every 6 months rather than fuse together with a permanent rod. She will have titanium rods placed most likely inserted along through the muscle and will most likely attached the screws ect. to the ribs which will do downward and connect to the pelvic area, packing some bone to bone graph to fuse the screws so that they will be more solid in place. However since she is so small he will have to decide exactly which method of connection works well when he is with her in surgery. I think he is still unsure of how he wants to anchor the rods and trying to decide which way of connecting the devise is best for her. Over all she will be inpatient for 4-5 days and then discharged. She is expected to have to wear a full time TLSO brace. He said she will be sore, swollen and will be on pain medication but kids her age are very resilient as well. He expects that she will be out of school approximately for 4 weeks after surgery; however that number is a generic time frame and will be determined by him more specifically after he assess her after the week to come after surgery and will advice on specific PT needs after surgery after he assesses her and determines her needs as well. Overall the surgery is another necessary step for Paris in attempts to correct her curve over time. He anticipates that there will be an over improvement of 20 + degrees taking it from 56 to approx 32. He is unsure if we will see a noted change right away. She will go in every 6 months to have the rods adjusted and do this procedure until she is approximately 9, to then obtain the permanent rod to fuse the spine. The structure itself will be able to be felt and mildly seen underneath the skin. One concern is that the actual may break or crack over time. He compared it to a paperclip wiggling due to her being a normal active young child and if you bend it so much it becomes flimsly and can weaken which then would need to be replaced. He stated that you may not even know the structure is cracked or weakened but would tell if she complained more of back pain or it arises on x ray. This is why he stated that he would like her back braced with the TLSO for additional support and the area towards the bottom of the spine sottered with additional bone graphing material to better hold the screws and rods in place.
Overall its not cancer related…so I said before I’ll take whatever comes.