Matthew had an MRI of his spinal column yesterday morning to check for a tethered spinal cord . In the last month he has been having some weird symptoms. He started not being able to empty his bladder until it was very full, so full that he was VERY uncomfortable until his bladder would just finally overfill and he would get rid of some urine. He also in January started having constipation issues that we blamed on the ketogenic diet. He also was born with a sacral dimple. and the beginning of the year we noticed a hemangioma (a raised reddish area of skin) on his back. I had remembered reading on Sherri's (a friend of mine) blog that they had tested her son for a tethered spinal cord and had read up on what that meant. All these symptoms matched up with a spinal cord tethering diagnosis. The way to get a definitive diagnosis is an MRI of the spine, hence that's what we did yesterday.
Matthew had to be sedated for this procedure and 1/2way through the procedure they called me from the OR and told me the doctor decided he wanted to do a more in depth MRI and to use contrast. I knew at this point they had found something.
Sure enough when the doctor finally was able to meet with us in the office, he said that Matthew had a very large tethered cord, and that it would be an easy fix. The surgery will take around an hour and he will need to stay a minimum of 48 hours after surgery. He could do the surgery as soon as Tuesday, but since Matthew's birthday is Thursday, I figured he wouldn't want to spend it in the hospital. So we scheduled the surgery for next Friday...exactly 2 years (to the day) that Matthew and this same Dr. were in the operating room together and he was putting in his shunt. Sort of poetic. I guess.
On a side note; we don't always get very much good news at Dr.'s visits, so we soak in compliments however we can...Yesterday, Dr. Puccioni questioned if he a shunt. When I said yes, he commented how nice of head he had for a "shunted head". He was quite impressed. ...Thank you..I'll take that as a compliment :)
5 comments:
oh, I am so happy that they found the answer! I hope that surgery goes well and that Matthew will be able to heal quickly! Glad they could wait til after his birthday for the surgery!
I read your post the first time through on my phone and missed out on that ADORABLE photo! So glad they figured it out. Thankful for Dr. P. :) He's the best! Want me to start saving boxes?
Oh thank goodness that they will be able to fix that!!!! I pray that surgery will go well and that Matthew heals quickly!!
so happy you have answers! And, I pray the surgery goes well and Matthew heals quickly
Yes indeed, what a handsome compliment!
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