Two years ago this past Sunday, Jackson was wheeled into the OR to have his second surgery - the placement of his VP shunt. That means....drum roll please....Jackson has been surgery-free for two years! Yahoo!
Of course, I'm mentioning this momentous occasion while knocking on wood, praising God, throwing salt over my shoulder, crossing my fingers and whatever else I need to do in order to not jinx this and tempt fate.
It is entirely possible that individuals with Spina Bifida will have to face multiple surgeries throughout the course of their life. They can be related to the Spina Bifida itself such as the lesion closure (like Jackson had when he was two days old) or it can be due to one of the many secondary conditions related to Spina Bifida.
Conditions such as:
- Hydrocephalus (VP shunt placements, shunt revisions, etc),
- Chiari II Malformation (decompression, etc),
- Various Orthopedic issues (clubbed feet, hip dislocation, scoliosis, etc),
- Tethered Cord (Tethered Cord release)
- Various Urinary and Bowel issues (Mitrofanoff procedure, MACE, etc)
I'm not going to sit here and say that Jackson won't need any or all of the procedures listed above (or any of the many others that I didn't even mention), because I'm not living in a perfect world over here full of sunshine and lollipops. Realistically, at some point, we'll have to watch our little guy get wheeled away into another operating room.
In the meantime, I'm going to continue knocking on wood, praying for the best and rejoicing in the fact that we've been surgery-free for 2 years!! Woot woot!
Let's keep this streak going strong for a long time, little buddy!
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| Pre-op {Lesion Closure - 5/27/11 - 2 days old} |
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Post-Op {Lesion Closure - 5/27/11 - 2 days old}
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| Father's Day 2011 {5 Days before VP Shunt Placement} |
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| Post-Op {VP Shunt Placement - 6/23/11 - 4 weeks, 1 day old} |
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| Mommy and Jax the day before his surgery anniversary at the Spokes for Spina Bifida event. More about that later! |
Our prayers are with Jackson everyday.