my child has severe scoliosis

[wsflach77]

My 5 year old child has severe scoliosis.  Our Orthopedic surgeon has him in a cast which gets changed every 3 months, until he is old enough for surgery (growing rods).  Are there any parents out there who have allowed their child to have this surgery?  Will you please share your story with me?  I'm looking at alternative treatments, this surgery scares me.


This discussion is related to Spinal pain 30 years after Harrington rod surgery for scoliosis and MRI results.

[justme081968]

My son of 13 (also has MD) is getting ready to have the rod placed in his back, the doctor (who let me add I trust), has said this is a no option it has to be done, due to the fact it is crushing his intestend.  Has anyone had this done and what we exspect from this

[brenlora]

Hurray your child's doc found the scoliosis early.  That gives you an extreme amount of time for non surgical resolution.  Anything that will help your child's spine grow straight rather than curved is wonderful.  Braces are great for they help the boy keep up with the growing child without surgery and can be changed often to help him reach his full height and straighten out the curve or amend the curve easier.  It may be a pain the the "butt" in the short term over their teen age years but if they can continue to grow and catch up and straighten out that spine with out rods and fusion do whatever you have to to make that happen.  In my harrington rod reality after having that surgery 30 years ago, I wished I had pushed harder for the braces before the finality of surgery cause once that is done it is done and I have heard less success stories that surgery horror stories.

Good Luck.
Bren

[ggreg]

Since I have a back injury, I was quite interested in a TV show within the last year or so, I think it was on the Learning Channel or perhaps one of the Discovery Channels, a documentary about a child who had scoliosis and had the operation you're referring to.  You could do a search at their websites and see can you get the video for it.  

The child was a little girl, I think she was around 8 or 10 years old maybe, and when she showed up for the op, her spine was quite twisted and she was uncomfortable.  She did very well with her surgery, a rather big deal and unusual enough to put it on TV, and they straightened her spine out something like 90 percent.  Perhaps if you can find that telecast and doctor, you could have him do it, or at least get a second opinion on the situation.

My back is deformed from a car wreck, it was not operated on, and I can tell you it is mighty uncomfortable, the muscles and nerves got pulled way out of their normal position and cause a lot of pain, especially as I have gotten older.  My active life has been shortened by about 20 years.  

While I'm not sure I would have wanted an operation, in those days they didn't have that sort of thing, so I do think in the long-run, if a qualified surgeon does it, the benefits would be very good for your son, depending on the risks you are willing to take.