Our doctor did state that he had some ideas on how to increase her mobility in her left arm. I know at the beginning of the blog I had stated that on her left side Morgan had little to no shoulder blade. Well we found out that is not entirely true. She does have a partially formed shoulder blade, it just sits on top of her shoulder instead of on her back like a normal persons. The doctor has an idea that he can rotate that off of her shoulder and onto her back, then suture it in place, and this should free up her arm and give her more movement. It will add to her recovery time though.
He will be replacing the smaller rod in her back as well and when he puts the new one in, he will be putting it in a different place i.e. attached to a rib and the spine instead of from rib to rib. This will also add to her recovery time.
The doctor also stated that he had talked to numerous other doctors at a national orthopedic convention in Florida. He got a lot of ideas from them. He also spoke to a doctor in St. Louis, who he is eventually going to refer us to.
Our doctor also stated that Morgans spine is still continuing to curve. Our doctor stated, in not so many words, that all he is doing is slowing it down, not curing it. I need to talk to him again to clarify but he made it sound like that if we continued the way we were going, Morgan would eventually be crippled. He told us that the doctor in St. Louis was a great surgeon and would most likely be able to cure her...
The doctor in St. Louis stated that he would essentially disect the mass of bones in her back and "create" vertebrae from those(see red lines below). The problem is is that it is a very high risk surgery and if it does not go right, any damage is most likely to be permanent, but if all goes as planned it could allow her the chance of a normal life.
So this is what seems to be our options:
Do nothing = crippled
Continue current treatment = crippled
Surgery in St. Louis = paralyzed/permanent nerve damage or chance of living normal life
The choice seems clear, doesn't it? How do you make that kind of decision for someone, even if it is your child? I will tell you, it was a long, quiet car ride back home that day.
Some thing to think about though. If we do see the doctor in St. Louis it will not be for a few years. A "few" years in medical science is a long time, some new treatment could be found in that time frame. All I can do is have faith.
