After a terrible night’s sleep at the Travelodge in Cambridge (never staying there again!) we met Mr Conlan this morning at 9am.

He examined Chris and then we all sat down to discuss what our options were. We asked about bracing and Schroth clinics and whether this could help to stop the curve progressing further while Chris continues to grow.  His advice was very clear.

• Chris has a substantial curve that will cause him significant problems in his adult life.
•  His curve is likely to continue to progress with each growth spurt that he goes through.
• We could try bracing and Schroth clinics and come back to see him again in a year and, in his opinion, the curve would probably be worse.

He also explained that surgery is best done when the spine is still flexible and growing. Once growth is completed the spine become fixed and corrective surgery becomes much more complicated.  At present Chris’s spine is flexible and his muscle structure is good – thanks to all the Schroth work we have done with him.  This means surgery now would be less stressful on his body and have a greater chance of a good outcome and recovery.

We asked dozens of questions and were there for 40 minutes.  At the end we asked Mr Conlan for his recommendation and it was very simple:

To book Chris in for surgery as soon as possible.

We explained that we wanted some time to talk it all through and would then contact him with our decision.

We then had a long and emotional drive home.  Chris was upset – but when we discussed what it was that was upsetting him most he said it was the fact that we would have to cancel our trip to Canada this Christmas – not the surgery!!

The one thing we learned this morning that really had an impact on me is the fact that the best time for corrective surgery is when the spine is still flexible and growing.  I had assumed (wrongly) that we would be advised to wait for surgery until Chris had finished growing.  This puts everything in a different light and we have some really tough decisions to make now.  Chris is about to start Year 10 and surgery now means he would miss a large chunk of his early GCSE curriculum, but if we wait and operate in 1 or 2 years time it is likely that the surgery will be more complicated and the desired outcome more difficult to achieve.