Today was the big day. We had our meeting with the neurosurgeon, Dr. Menezes, today and it was kind of like we expected. He showed us the MRI scans which were really interesting to see. He showed us where the cord was tethered at the base of the spine and long story short, my baby is scheduled for surgery on January 20th. :( He said that it was a "simple" surgery, but let's remember this is coming from a world renown neurosurgeon so I'm not sure "simple" is the word I would use, but whatever. He said that sometimes with tethered spines the part that is tethered is the same color as the nerves so that makes it so much more difficult to fix, but Kai's is a different color, which we could see on the MRI, so that is good news. He explained how they use hair-thin wires that they run current thru to make sure what they are removing is only the fat and nothing of importance! :) There were a few interesting things also. One of the first things he looked at was Kai's feet. He pointed out that Kai's 2nd toe is slightly raised-kind of pulled back, it's hard to explain, but as soon as he noticed that, he said that that is a signal that there is something wrong with his spine! Wierd! They also did a little test-broke one of those long cotton swab things and poked the pointy part on his bum cheeks. Kai has no feeling at all in his bottom. It's so wierd! I never ever noticed but Dr. Menezes is right-he didn't flinch or anything when he got poked.
So we are scheduled to head to Iowa City on January 19th for a pre-op, lab work and an appointment with anesthesia, then surgery on the 20. The nurse said that Dr. Menezes blocked 4 hours for the surgery but I don't know how much of that is prep and how much is the actual surgery. They will keep him sedated for 48 hours after surgery because he needs to be on his tummy. Hospital stay will likely be 5-7 days.
Not quite sure how I feel about it at this point. It's good to have answers and to know that he is scheduled for surgery, but at the same time it's so scary that he actually SCHEDULED...like this is REALLY going to happen! I like Dr. Menezes so that helps, but it's just so scary that my sweet little baby has to even go thru this. I am thankful though, that it seems as if once this surgery is over, the cord will not retether or anything of that nature, so that makes me feel better too. I was a bit freaked out by the wait time, but then realized that it will be ok after all. This will get us through the holidays and Claire's birthday, a couple weeks to bounce back and be ready to roll for Kai's surgery. We are on the wait list for the Ronald McDonald House, so hopefully that works out as well.
Thank you everyone for your kind words and encouragement. Along with your prayers, they mean a lot. We are so blessed!
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