My son is set to go for a spinal fusion July 29th. He is 14 years old and has special needs. He was born with a condition called congenital diaphragmatic hernia. It almost took him from us. He needed many serious life saving surgeries and procedures the first 4 years of his life. From about age 5 he really started to thrive and hasn’t needed much. He has the mindset of an 11 year old so he’s not too far behind his peers. He’s much further than the doctors ever anticipated.

Scoliosis is something that took us a little by surprise. We don’t catch it in time and I feel guilty for that. It was brought to our attention a couple years ago. We tried braces and he had therapy but his curve is at 73°. I was hoping for an alternative to surgery but don’t believe there’s anything else realistically that can be done, and I don’t want him to have the surgery when he’s older. He doesn’t complain about pain but I know he will as he ages. He has awful GERD and they think the scoliosis is contributing to it. Meds don’t seem to help.

Anyways, I’m sorry to ramble on. The anxiety of seeing my son go through another major surgery is getting to me. I know he’s going to be fine. I know he’s strong and he’s not the least bit scared. The flashbacks of being in a hospital all the time appear and I just pray that my worries for this procedure prove to be unwarranted.

Besides staying strong and showing support for my son, any other advice you guys could give me and my son would be greatly appreciated 👏