Today we returned to Cambridge for a follow-up appointment with Mr Conlan.  Before we saw him Chris had another set of x-rays taken and then we waited for our turn with Mr Conlan.  He checked the x-rays and said that everything was where it should be and looking good.  He also examined Chris again and was very pleased with how he was now standing – tall and straight.  He even used a plumb-line on Chris’ back to see how straight it was!

We also saw Sally again – the really lovely nurse who looked after Chris immediately post surgery and she took him off to see how tall he was…he is now 2 inches taller than he was in December before the surgery…just amazing!

We also asked Mr Conlan’s advice about whether Chris could go on a training weekend for his expedition which is taking place in the Lake District in March.  He had no problem with Chris going from a medical point of view, but did suggest that Chris try sleeping out in the garden to see whether it was too uncomfortable for his back, or whether he felt ok.  He also said that it was too soon for Chris to be carrying a full kit ruck sack and that he should only carry a ‘day’ sack.   We will have to discuss this with the school and see what they can do to help Chris.

After seeing Mr Conlan we had an appointment with the lead physiotherapist, Sarah Charlton.  She showed Chris a number of exercises that he needs to do to improve the position of his right shoulder.  It is rolling forward at the moment so he needs to strengthen the shoulder muscles in his back to pull it back into place.  The exercises were very simple compared to the Schroth exercises that we had been doing so hopefully Chris will be happy to do these every day.

We also discussed when Chris could start to do more exercise and the advice was to avoid PE for the rest of this school year and not to do any form of exercise that requires him to twist or turn and not to take part in any team sports where people might knock into him.

So, another tick in the box!  We will have one more check-up in July before Chris goes on his expedition to Kyrgyzstan and I think the rest is now up to us.  Steve and I will continue to encourage him to do his new exercises and I will also get him out walking with me – might have a battle on my hands over that one though!