Scoliosis Adventure – Almost Over

While we were home over the Christmas holidays, Jakeb had his check up for any developments in his Scoliosis. And there were none. YAY!!

This xray looks almost identical to our last one in March of 2010 (post links below). Upper curve is 33 and lower is 34 degrees. The upper being the Scoliosis curve and the lower being a compensatory curve. The body is really an amazing thing. Even with the weird things it does, it still knows to try to fix itself. A fluke? I think not. More like a miracle. 

What you can’t see, though, and the difference in this xray and last March’s xray is that the growth plate is almost fully closed. Our doctor said that he could still grow a little bit more but it would be in his arms and legs and not his spine.

So this is what my full grown, not a little boy anymore, handsome as anything, almost as tall as a palm tree son looks like now.

www.jhintze.com

His shoulders and hips are even so he shouldn’t have any trouble later in life. The only downside that the doctor mentioned was that he might have arthritis at 60 instead of 70. We asked him if there was a way he could prolonge the onset of arthritis and he said stay thin. 

So it’s over! Yipee!!

Well, almost.

He’ll have one more check up in a year and then we’re done.

Yipee again!!!

So far, Anna shows no signs of having it but we are watching her closely. That girl is getting so tall!! I’m just about a 1/2″ from being the shortest person in our family. Talk about weird. Anyway, we’re hoping it just passes by her completely.

Here are the previous posts on our Scoliosis journey in case you’re interested.

Scoliosis Side Trip

Scoliosis Adventure, cont…

Scoliosis Adventure, cont.

I realized today that I haven’t updated about our family’s scoliosis developments in a while. I’ve always been open with sharing our journey in hopes that others walking this same road can find hope and encouragement as they read ours.

Here is the last post on this topic if you’d like to catch up on this “little” journey of ours.

Tori is doing great. No issues. We’re pretty sure she’s done with all of this. *insert sigh of relief*

One of the main reasons we went back to Texas in March was to check on the status of Jakeb’s scoliosis. The xrays came back showing no changes. This is fabulous news as he has just a small bit left to close on his growth plate so his curves are not expected to change any further. We’ll go back again this summer but then we should be on annual check ups rather than 6 months. The best part of all is that his curves are not bad enough to require surgery and he should have no issues to deal with long term. Here is Jakeb’s latest xray pic.

The curves are compensatory and are both around 34 degrees. If you look at his shoulders and hips, you can see that they are just about even with each other and this is really good. Surgery is not considered until the curves are upwards of 50 degrees. If someone has to have scoliosis, this is the way to do it. The Dr. has always said that Jakeb’s running has been a help. Keeping the muscles strong around his spine could have very well been the key.

We’ll continue to watch Anna but so far so good with her. If it’s going to show up in her it should rear its ugly head in the next year or so. Before we moved from Texas, we were driving through Katy (Houston area) and they were just beginning to build a Texas Childrens Hospital. Anna saw it and matter of factly stated that when she gets scoliosis that’s where she wants to have her surgery. It’s been a part of her life as long as she can remember.

Thanks to all who have prayed us through this and shared in our pain and tears and also our joys. In the grand scheme of things we know we are so blessed that this is our “cross to bear” so to speak when so many other people suffer from so much worse. But it has still been a journey with no shortage of unpleasant, painful and tearful times. Let’s hope and pray this is almost over. I guess we’ll have to watch for it again when our kids start having kids but this would be one genetic cycle we would really love to leave behind.

Scoliosis Side Trip

Today, I’m taking a little side trip away from our Singapore adventures to catch you up on our scoliosis adventures. If your new to this adventure, here’s some history.

http://stunz.blogspot.com/2008/07/scoliosis-family-affair.html

http://stunz.blogspot.com/2009/04/good-news-friday.html

Jakeb needs xrays every 6 months to watch the development of the curves. Jakeb’s dr. in Houston told us that if we could get the xrays done here in Singapore and send him digital copies via email, he’d review and we wouldn’t have to establish a new dr. here. We love the one we have! We were able to get the xrays, I sent them on to Dr. Hanson and this was his ever so welcomed reply:

Hi Andrea,
  His radiographs show that the curves haven’t progressed at all, which is very encouraging.  I would continue as is for now and just plan on seeing me in March.
Thanks,
Darrell Hanson

This is terrific news!! Those who are praying, please keep it up! It’s working. If the curves stay where they are, surgery won’t be recquired. The curves as they are would not cause any long term damage or damage to his internal  organs. He has a little bit of growing left so we just need to get him to that point without it getting worse.

 

And yes, family and friends, we are hoping to make a trip back to Texas in March 2010. The kids have 2 weeks off from school and Jakeb needs to see the doc and also renew his driver’s license or he’ll lose it. I may even schedule surgery for my foot. It’s becoming quite a pain. It’ll be a quick trip no matter what we do! We’ll probably stick around Asia for the summer “holiday” and travel as much as we can while we’re over here. Plan on coming to see us!!