Monday, April 14, 2014

Welcome Wayne State!

Hello Wayne State Doctoral Students! 
As promised - here is an updated post to my blog.  The first in years, just for you! 

As expected, much has happened in Owen's life in the past few year.  Just like an average height kid's would, his childhood has had some ups and downs.  Generally in our day to day life, Owen's dwarfism doesn't cause us a second thought, but there are times when it does play a role and when it does, it plays a BIG role (pun intended?).

One of the most notable affects of Owen's dwarfism was foramen magnum stenosis which after years of careful monitoring was corrected with cervicomedullary decompression in 2010.  Before his surgery, the narrowing put him a greater risk for paralysis (or worse) should he fall the wrong way or get into a car accident.  We were constantly watching Owen - fretting over every little trip or fall and worrying that one accident could leave him severely even fatally injured.  That being said, the decision to proceed with the surgery was agonizing and not taken lightly.  It was a major surgery that involved weeks of recovery and a saw mere centimeters from my son's brain.  He was a happy and otherwise healthy 4 year old who we though would be quite disrupted by this major medical venture.  However in the end, it was the option of our trusted neurologist, who always erred on the side of caution while keeping vigilant watch with bi-yearly MRI's, that swayed to move forward with the decompression.

True to form, Owen surprised everyone.  He handled the surgery beautifully and recovered quickly.  In fact, despite preparing to stay in the hospital for 4 days, we were discharged after just 36 hours. 
The surgery was a huge reminder that I don't have an "average" child. 

*A little side not.  The "we" I refer to in the above story is myself and Owen's dad Dan.  We have since divorced.  Each of us are happily recoupled - he and his wife Kylie were married in Sept 2013 and Kelly and I welcoming baby Liam in Jan 2013.  We co-parent amicably and share joint custody. 

Here are some pictures from the surgery!









1 comment:

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