We left home about 7pm and had a nice easy journey round the M25 and into Cambridge. Anthony seemed very happy to be left ‘home alone’ and even gave me a goodbye hug which was lovely.  We’re now all checked in at our hotel – the Holiday Inn near Duxford.  It took us a while to find it as the SatNav took us to the wrong side of a railway line that runs close to the hotel…but once we found our way to the opposite side of the tracks we saw the hotel.

Our room is clean and comfortable and we’ve watched some TV and are ready for bed.  I’m not sure how much I will sleep as the thought of what tomorrow will bring is screaming in my head.  Chris still seems very relaxed and shows no signs of feeling anxious at all which is a great relief.

So – it’s lights out now ready for an early start.  We have to be at the hospital for 7am tomorrow.

We are now getting closer to the surgery date of 5th December and had to return to the hospital so that they can do their final pre-operative checks and tests.  We managed to get everything booked on one day again which made life much easier.

So, today Chris had the following appointments:

• X-ray: Today they took the final images of his spine that will be used to decide how much of his spine needs to be ‘fixed’.  They took a total of 4 x-rays: two side-bend x-rays, a lateral x-ray and a full spine x-ray.
• Lead Paediatric Nurse – We spent almost an hour with Sally, the lead nurse who will look after Chris on the day of his surgery.  She went through a very detailed pre-admission form with us and then did blood, urine, MRSA and ECG tests on Chris and finally checked his height and weight.  His height was 1.72m (he should be considerably taller post surgery!)
• Mr Conlan – he reviewed the x-rays and went through the surgical procedure with us once again answering our final questions.  Steve then signed the forms giving our permission for the surgery and accepting the risks associated with this form of spinal surgery…I’m trying hard not to think about those

I had been anxious about today, but once again everyone we met was so helpful, kind and well informed that we all relaxed and felt very reassured that Chris will be in safe hands. It is now just a matter of days until the ‘Big Day’ is here.  And the only thing Mr Conlan said that made me stressed was that if Chris has any signs or symptoms of a cough or cold when the surgery is due they would have to postpone the surgery by 6 weeks.  So – no pressure there then – I just have to keep him fit and healthy for the next 9 days…easy in a school full of coughing and sneezing children!!

A few pictures from our truly amazing holiday in Iceland – we all want to go back and see more!

One of the things that most upset Chris about needing surgery is that we had to cancel our long awaited trip to Canada to stay with my sister in Vancouver for Christmas.  It had been a year in the planning and we were all really looking forward to being with them on Christmas Day – but we’ve had to cancel that now.

In the last few weeks Chris has put up with a lot of different people examining his back and making him exercise and he has accepted it all without complaint.  Equally, his older brother has accepted without complaint that all of our attention is current on Chris!  I wanted to surprise them both with a holiday this half term as I think the whole family could do with a break from thinking about Scoliosis and spinal surgery.

We have looked online and chosen a five day tour of Iceland!!

I am so excited about it…we will swim in the Blue Lagoon, see waterfalls, gysers, volcanic lava fields, glaciers and icebergs…and hopefully (if we are lucky enough) we may even see the Northern Lights!

Today I had a meeting with Chris’ Tutor to talk about how much school he will miss as a result of the surgery and what we can do to try and help him keep up with all his lessons.  Mr Smith was incredibly supportive and he will speak to each of Chris’ subject teachers to find out whether there are any important GCSE tests/CAT’s that Chris will miss – assuming he has his surgery mid November or early December (we are still waiting for a date!)

At least we will have the Christmas holidays as part of his recovery time so that will be two weeks less school time that he will miss!

I am going to meet with Mr Smith again once all of Chris’ teachers have done a plan for the work he will miss and what he can do from home to try and keep up.

I have told you before about Peter Roberts and Tetbury Osteopaths and this week Steve and Chris went to Tetbury to work with Peter to improve Chris’ technique with his Schroth exercises and to learn some new exercises and stretches to get his back in the best possible shape prior to surgery.

Steve and Chris set off together on Monday 15th September for three days of one-to-one exercise therapy with Peter.  I stayed at home with Chris’ older brother Anthony – and of course the dog!

Chris worked hard with Peter for around 4 hours each day refining our technique on our existing Schroth exercises, focusing on the importance of his breathing technique.  Through breathing into the appropriate parts of the lungs Chris was able to use his lungs like bellows to stretch out his rib cage and work against the curve.  In this way he learnt how to really expand his ribs where the curve of his spine has squashed them.  He also learnt a couple of new stretches that help to de-rotate the spine and help his standing posture.

Today the two boys returned home with a new exercise regime for Chris to do morning and evening.  Needless to say Chris is still not keen on the exercises but we know how important it will be for his recovery post surgery to have good muscle strength and flexibility.  The surgery will move a lot of these muscles out of their usual position and muscle pain is one of the main causes of discomfort post surgery – so we want to make sure these muscles are smooth and flexible when he has the procedure.  This will hopefully minimise the discomfort he suffers after surgery.

Working with Peter has been a great help to us and he is incredibly knowledgeable about Scoliosis and the Schroth Technique.  If you want to get help from a real expert you can do no better than Peter!

His website is: www.scoliosisattetburyosteopaths.co.uk