A Late Night Phone Call

Mom had put in a call to dad's physiatrist (his main spinal cord doctor who manages his entire case) on Friday with some general questions that have come up since dad's appointment on Wednesday.  She returned that call late last night.  For more than 20 minutes, she spent time reassuring mom of the good things we are doing and answered some of our questions that were popping up. 

We learned that it's common for quadriplegics to have some form of H.O. or some form of A.S. but it is highly unusual and rare for dad to have both, and to the extreme that dad does.  His growth is progressively active, much more than seen with the average person in dad's condition .  In her words, he's a very unusual case (go figure)!  When the testing began over 18 months ago, the H.O. was present but it wasn't until near the end of last year that they started to suspect the A.S.  Further testing confirmed it. It wasn't until February that the throat became a concern when his neck swelled and he developed problems swallowing and choking.  The problem has developed rapidly since then which leads up to where we are today.

Speculating, she guesses that dad's surgery would take place sometime in the next week or two.  The doctors would much rather have everything planned out and go in to operate on their own time than to have to do an emergency surgery.  They will operate on the left side of his neck where he has the least amount of skin, tissue, and muscle damage.  The doctor called this his "virgin side"!  After she's looked at dad's scan and talked with the E.N.T. on Monday, she will contact us again with more updated information.  We'll know more then.