The Brace

Mike was fitted right after surgery with a custom brace which he needs to wear whenever he is moving around. It was custom developed by an outfit in Boston and rushed to CHOP. It is made of plastic and fits his chest and back in a fashion very similar to the armor worn by the knights of old. I will add a picture of it shortly.

Mike goes to regular room.

Mike moved out of the intensive care ward of Childrens Hospital yesterday in the afternoon. This was a major step in his recovery as he can now get a good nights sleep and will be able to start slowly moving from bed to chair.

Anatomy

In order to better understand any abnormalities in your spine, you should begin by understanding some basic spinal anatomy.

The human spine is divided into three portions: the cervical spine (neck area), the thoracic spine (upper back) and the lumbar spine (lower back).

The spine itself is made up of bones, joints, discs, nerve structures, spinal cord, muscles and ligaments that all work together to allow for movement and support for the body.

The Spinal Bones

The spinal column is made up of twenty-four individual bones called vertebrae. Each vertebra in the spinal column consists of the vertebral body in the front, the facet joints in the back and the pedicles, which join the vertebral bodies to the facet joints. Vertebrae provide support for the spine and are connected by intervertebral discs. Intervertebral discs are composed of strong tissue masses that are filled with gel, and they allow the torso to bend, twist and absorb shock. There are seven cervical vertebrae, twelve thoracic vertebrae and five lumbar vertebrae.

The vertebrae in the cervical spine begin at the base of the head. In this area there are eight pairs of cervical nerves, which control movement in the neck, arms and upper body. The cervical vertebrae are strong and tough in order to support the weight of the head.

The thoracic spine contains twelve vertebrae and twelve pairs of ribs. The nerve roots in this area are responsible for movement in the midsection of the body. The ribs provide the structure for the chest wall and protect many important internal organs.

The largest and strongest bones in the spinal column are the lumbar vertebrae. The lumbar portion of the spine supports the bulk of the body's weight. The five pairs of nerve roots located in the lumbar spine are responsible for movement and sensory functions in the lower extremities of the body.

At the lower portion of the spinal column are two other spinal bones: the sacrum and the coccyx, or tailbone. The sacrum consists of five bones naturally fused together, and the coccyx consists of four small attached bones. These bones look different than any other bones in the spine. The sacrum is triangular in shape and the coccyx is attached to the lower end of this triangle. The nerve roots in this area control the pelvic organs and buttock muscles.

For Further Information see   http://www.iscoliosis.com/anatomy.html

Mike had his surgery for spinal fusion on Wednesday Jan 9th at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. His curvature had progressed to 130 degrees which was causing problems with breathing and pain. Although his surgery was somewhat delayed by his need for heart surgery (see other articles) we remained hopeful that the doctors would be able to gain a fair amount of correction.

The surgery started at 8:00 am and took all day with Michael not getting in to recovery until 7:30 that night. His face was bloated (from the long time in the surgery) but otherwise was in excellent shape.  We were estatic at the amount of correction that the surgeon (Dr. Dorman) was able to achieve. His curvature was reduced from 130 degrees to 30 degrees W O W  

If you want to email me mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , but if you would like to speak with me directly use my skype account. Skype is a free program that allows you to chat through the computer using a keyboard to type, hedset/mic, and even a webcam that allows you to use it as a videophone. I will not give away my cell phone # unless i know you well enough, for i don't want "phone spam".

     Hello, my name is mike, and i was diagnosed with LDS in January 2007. For the time before then i was miss diagnosed with Spritzen Goldberg syndrome. I was born with a cleft pallet, and club feet, which thankfully are both fixed now. I had pectus ex cavatum,but that was repaired with a nus bar this year along with my enlarged aorta.I was about four-foot-seven due to scoliosis at a 130' curve. I now am almost 5 feet tall. I have two steel rods screwed into each vertebrae on either side of my spine. 

     Right now i am 15 (turning 16 in July) in high school as a freshman in the second semester. School is a bit hard due to the fact that i am absent so many days. My hobby is computers, building soldering kits, and sometimes carpentry. I like to bike ride on my mountain bike, but i can get tired out due to the fact that lds is a connective tissue disorder, and muscle just so happens to be a type of connective tissue.