Fusion! 3-28-2012

We have had a very busy 2 weeks of follow ups to mark Sam's progress six months out of surgery.  Last week we took him for his 4th sleep study.  This one was to see how his apnea levels were without a CPAP after healing.  Half way through the night they put a CPAP on him to guage his setting for continuing to use it.  My assumption based on that was that he would still definately require one.  We followed up that study with his nuerologist in Peoria this last Tuesday.  The first good news is that Sam no longer has central sleep apnea!  This was the unusual condition that alerted the doctors that something was very wrong in the first place.  He showed levels that would be expected of any average individual.  Yeah!  What this means to me is that Sam's brainstem is now functioning correctly.

Good news number two is that Sam's obstructive apnea is now boarderline.  He still qualifies to be a CPAP user, but we have some options.  We will spend the next few months figuring out if he feels better rested and more alert when on the CPAP or if it makes no difference.  His nuerologist said he would recieve some benefit with the CPAP, but not so much that she is concerned if we no longer use it if he doesn't notice a difference.  We don't have another Nuerologist visit until next year unless we have problems.

Today we traveled into Chicago for the next follow-ups.  Sam enjoyed taking lots of pictures out the window.

Sam had a full series of spinal and brain MRI's (3 total) and one CT scan.  These started very late as the technicians were concerned that even with titanium rods that their magnets would be too strong for Sam to safely go through the particular MRI machine he was scheduled for.  They finally resolved this issue and carried out the scans as planned.  We then shuttled over to Dr. Alden's office to get the results.  His clinic was very busy and we had quite a wait there.  Finally, we got in.

Good news number three - Sam has a completed fusion from the base of the skull to his 2nd cervical plate.  Dr. Alden was very pleased with the solid bone growth that was there.  He indicated that he considers it a complete successful fusion and it would be fine if no further bone growth occured.  This was the result we were looking for.  Also, the MRI's showed no syrinxes (cysts) on the spine or brain.  This will be one of the things they will be looking for the annual MRI's in the future.  It also showed a healthy amount of spinal fluid in the spaces that no room had previously been available.  All very good news!  We will not need to visit Dr. Alden again for 6 months for a regular x-ray, and then in a year for his next MRI.  We like Dr. Alden a lot, but are happy we will not be seeing him quite so often!

After all this we went for a very late lunch to the Austrian Bakery on Clark St. (Sam's request) where he enjoyed a big plate of spatzel, his favorite!  Back at grandma and grandpa's house now and will be on the road home soon.  This feels like a bit of an ending as there is thankfully not too much more to go on to report.  We are almost down to regular annual visits and no longer expecting more changes.  I will take this time then to thank you all once again for the tremendous support you have given us.  You have supported us, prayed for us and loved us through what is easily classified as the hardest thing our family has ever been through.  Most of all, we are thanking God for His hand being on Sam and our family, for His grace and care, and for carrying us through this.  Praise God!!