Those who have been reading this blog for awhile will already know the story of Son’s scoliosis and surgery, but newcomers may not, so I thought I’d do a little pictorial recap here. This is because, yesterday, Son was told that he could finally, after over three months, take his post-operative spinal brace off and leave it off for good – YEEHA!
Before his scoliosis became so severe (it went from around a 40% curve to nearly 80% in the space of around eight months when he was 15), he was a passionate football player and had tentative dreams of pursuing football professionally. He was very good at it.
However, despite taking Son to numerous series’ of appointments with a chiropractor, physiotherapist, osteopath, kinesiologist, personal trainer and others (all of whom were wonderful and possibly prevented his scoliosis from getting even worse), the following X-ray speaks for itself. Surgery, which we hadn’t contemplated before, became a matter of inevitabilty rather than an option, so we saw a surgeon and Son was told he would have to have surgery and that he must stop playing football immediately. As this was two days before a school football trip in which Son was the star attraction (of course he wasn’t the star attraction, but I’m his mother so I like to say things like that), the devastation of this news was difficult to deal with and I will never forget Son’s sobs after that appointment.
So, on Valentines Day this year (Feb. 14 2012) Son underwent major surgery which took, I think, over eight hours and in which twelve of his vertebrae were fused, using quite a bit of titanium, and bone from the bone bank (a bit like a blood bank). I will spare you the gory details as there are plenty of youtubes on how this works. The following pictures show Son with the electrody things in his hair, the evening before surgery (we were allowed to go out for dinner!), the second is in intensive care after the surgery, the third is us mucking around and trying to be silly, and the fourth is Son a week later in the rehabilitation unit with the teddy I bought him and some gravy and chips!
And this is Son in his brace, standing 3 inches taller than he was (I kid you not!) with my mother – and another picture of him feeding the gang with some visitors.
Taking the brace off after all this time (Son had to wear it except when sleeping), has been, for him, wonderful but also a bit scary. He said today, before he went into town with his friend, “I feel a bit naked!” But, apart from that, the exhilaration of such a fantastically successful surgical outcome takes my breath away. Son is a new man!
In the next post I would like to show pictures of now, and to thank the surgeon publically, but I need to check if that is okay with him before I mention his name.
Meanwhile, Son has decided that instead of playing professional football, he will become a rock star.
And he will!
jmgoyder 
Congratulations to Son! Wonderful news!
It is a huge relief because, as you can imagine, I have heard some horror stories about this surgery!
We met you on the blogosphere around the time Son had his op – it’s so very good to hear that the surgery and post op care have gone so well! We look forward to buying his first album.
You will be the first to know about the album – ha!
This is good news. I hope everything continues to go well.
Finally (I hope) that ordeal is over with! Thanks Tom!
What a handsome boy you have there!
Oh good – I’ll tell him that!
I’m so happy for him, and tell him he looks more like a rock star than a football player, plus, football players retire by age 40, rock stars never retire
What a wonderful thing to tell him – thanks Katrina!
What a brave boy you have. Congrats
He made a point of not watching anything, or reading anything, about his surgery beforehand (he left that to me), so his bravery was on the shoulders of my terror – hehe!
My best friend, who is old like me, had that surgery. She is the Bionic women, but leads and active life. When our puppies go through stuff like this it is very hard, fear is good. 🙂
Are you old? I don’t think so. Thank you so much for this generous comment in every way. That Bionic woman sounds pretty formidable!
Old is relative – I am past my 1/2 century but not yet to the the golden jubilee – Heheheheh
another day where we can thank God for all of his miracles!! tell him we are so proud and happy for him
I will tell him Terry – thank you so much!
u r welcome
So happy for you all.
Fantastic that it is going so well!!
jmgoyder,
What an amazing story! We’ve been dealing with a lot of medical issues at the Jones house in the last few years, and it is amazing what medical science, faith and family can do. Thank goodness you found a good doctor. I hope the future holds many bright things for Son, he sounds like an amazing kid.
Janie Jones
Janie! Thank you so much and hope you guys are okay too. Juliexx
I just can’t get over this stunning transformation. Sometimes I am appalled at modern medicine, but this renews my faith!
I am a newish convert to modern medicine now! Well, some of it….
It’s amazing what modern surgery can achieve.
Congratulations to son for coming through it all, and good luck to him with his career as a rock star. As an ex-rugby player and a current bass player I share his passions and wish him all the best for the future 🙂
How exciting – he plays bass too!
It’s really quite incredible.
I know – I am still gobsmacked!
Crap, that would have been excrutiating!What an incredible journey and cause for celebration.Keep up the good work!Ya Hoo!
Oh the pain was terrible for him for a couple of weeks but the pain meds. made him hallucinate – argh! Glad that bit is over!
Congratulations & thank God for modern science & medicine. Son has been incredibly brave & positive through all this. I’m so pleased for him (and his parents who supported him along the way).
Yep, you can be a Rock Star forever, so its got more money making potential (than a football star).
Praising God, The Universe and all that is Holy!! How awesome for Son. Jules I am in tears, in tears! I kid you not. Its too surreal that this story of this handsome young man that I do not know (not really) has affected my heart strings as it has. I am so damn happy for the kid I am doing cartwheels in my heart!!
I can undersand how he would feel naked wothout. Just wearing an ankle brace for 8 weeks felt weird when gone. He must feel so vulnerable spinne wise, yes?
You are so beautiful!
Not so sure there is truth there but I so thank you Jules.
That is the truth BB!
Incredible journey for Son! Wishing an awesome future!
Thank you Linda – I will tell the brat! Jx
Yeah! for son. But rock star? Hmmm. Well, okay, but only if he does the rock that I can sing along with — Beatles, Who, Simon & Garfunkel, Bread……………….. lol
His favourites at the moment are Coldplay, Breaking Benjamin – they are singalongable!