All went beautifully in surgery! Our trio of doctors kept us updated on Oscar throughout and sent pictures of his corrected spine once finished. They were quite pleased and optimistic –Oscar’s curve was surprisingly “flexible” which allowed them to correct his rotation as well as his curve. As we expected, they purposely left him with a 10 degree curve (20 degrees standing) to allow him to continue to straighten as he grows and to minimize the chance of over-correction. Determining the tension on the tether is tricky though. Oscar’s bone age is that of a 13 year old, giving him about three more years of growth. But since Prader-Willi syndrome is so complicated, and since he is taking both growth hormone and testosterone, our surgeon here called our endocrinologist back in the Bay Area (in the wee hours of the morning!) to discuss Oscar’s case. We are grateful for that kind of care!

Oscar has been pretty sleepy all afternoon and his eyes are still closed but he’s starting to chat and ask questions and he is very comfortable. The next day or two will be all about pain management, waking up the GI system and starting to walk! We’ll keep you posted.

Here are some photos of Oscar’s “before” spine and an image of his spine with the screws in.