A Year Ago…

A year ago today, July 16, was a Saturday.  Jadon woke with back pain.  We didn’t think too much of it.  He had been at camp the previous week, and we thought maybe he did something there to make him a little “stiff”.  Sunday he woke and could hardly move.  I honestly thought he was overreacting, but Andy recognized he was really in pain.  So, first thing on Monday morning I called Jadon’s ortho doctor, Dr. White.  He agreed to see him that afternoon since we were leaving for vacation on Tuesday.  Jadon first got an x-ray when we got to the hospital.  When Dr. White came in the room he handed me the x-ray and said, basically, “Here – you can see for yourself what the issue is.”  What was it?  Jadon’s second broken rod.  Yes, two broken titanium rods in one little back.  I felt pretty bad for not realizing how much pain he had been experiencing.  Jadon got molded for a brace before we left the hospital, which we got after we returned from vacation.  The next morning we left on our road trip to Colorado.  We will forever remember that vacation as the one Jadon spent lying on his side.  He could only sit about 5 to 10% of the time he was awake.  He was in so much pain. We communicated to Dr. White via e-mail throughout our vacation and got the date Jadon’s back surgery moved up (we already had surgery scheduled to repair the one broken rod).  As most of you know, Jadon’s first surgery on August 10 was not successful.  This necessitated him needing the halo traction and surgery that followed in October and November and us starting this blog.  What a year it has been for us all.  We remain truly thankful for all the prayers and support we received along the way.