She has spent the past 18 months in Sudan, Africa, and the pain has really gotten bad in the low back area.
Today I fixed her upper and lower curve T5-L3 at Duke Raleigh Hospital.
She did great during surgery.
Surgical time: 3 hours 14 minutes
Estimated Blood Loss (EBL): 725 cc.
Correction: near 100%
Postop location: Private Orthopaedic Floor Room, with family waiting.
Mom’s reaction when she saw the postop X-Ray with straight spine: tears of joy.
I got a chance to show Alex her X-Ray as well. Her reaction: “Wow!!”
It is important to minimize the number of fused segments. I used some preop bending X-Rays to determine that I could preserve the bottom 3 discs, which is much better for Alex in the long run.
I recently saw a similar curve in a 15 yo girl where they were planning to fuse to L5. Similar bending films revealed that I could fix the curve with a shorter fusion, sparing 3 discs as opposed to only 1 disc. This helps prevent adjacent level failure and maximizes flexibility.
Tomorrow we’ll get Alex up for her first walk.
She’ll be at least an inch and a half taller, and with a symmetric “hourglass figure.”
She’s planning to go back to Sudan in a couple of weeks, and get back to her important work.
Get well soon, Alex!
Dr. Lloyd Hey
Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery
Raleigh NC USA
http://www.heyclinic.com
Member, Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) http://www.srs.org
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