So, here we go again...
Two weeks ago John John was having some pretty significant pain in his lower back and down his left leg. After 2 days of him complaining and nearly in tears I called his surgeon and made an appt. to go in. John John's description was this, "the bolt hurts, like a burning, every time it touches something; and sometimes it shoots down the back of my leg". Now, this may sound strange to some of you, the whole "bolt hurting" thing... John John is an extremely skinny guy. He's proportioned well and doesn't look sickly, he just has no meat on his bones. Every time we see the back dr. he jokes that we need to get some meat on his bones. It's just not gonna happen, John John is just not built like that. Well, after surgery almost 2 years ago, there came a spot on his lower back at one of the bolts in his pelvis where his body built it's own protection. He was so skinny and I guess that bolt was irritating the inside of his skin on that side so basically it calloused over. He has a knot there. It's not a concern, they've x-rayed and tested to make sure that's what it is and what happened and it's fine. It's just the way his body protected itself. It's been a place that he's had to be careful of just because it tends to get sore easier because of the fact that it protrudes off his back a little, but again, not really an issue. (That's the "bolt" hurting). Well, he started describing it as a burning pain and I immediately started listening closer. I knew that was a sign of nerve pain, not just a soar spot. He's been complaining about that for a little while now but not all the time and it's always gone away when it stops being touched. When he started complaining about the pain down his leg I knew I should call the dr. That, I didn't think, should be happening. Now, I was pretty sure that it was not anything serious, but last time I thought nothing was wrong he started growing crooked 2 months later and couldn't bend over; I wasn't waiting for that again! So I made him an appt.
We went yesterday and it didn't go how we expected... It wasn't terrible news, just not the "Oh it's fine, it's just gonna happen every once in awhile, it's nothing to worry about" answer I thought it was gonna be. He is going to have a cat scan done. They did x-rays in the office but he said he wants to get a closer, more detailed looked. He said according to the x-rays everything looks like it should. The cat scan will be more specific - to the way his bone healed, to if his bone has healed all the way, to the amount of room that nerve has to "move around", etc. Those are the things he's looking for. He said he thinks that it's just that there's no meat around that bolt to protect his nerve from it. There's a chance that, for some reason, there is no room for the nerve to move/stretch but he didn't seem to think that. That was just kind of a passing statement he made, just one of the things to look at.
The next question was, how do we fix that?! Not the answer we wanted!!!! He would have to remove that bolt. Less than 8% of people have to have the hardware removed after spinal fusion and such. Seriously?!?!?!?! Our guess is that wouldn't be a major kind of surgery, as long as it's not the "there's not enough room for the nerve" conclusion after the cat scan; but it just brings back everything we went through 2 years ago. It's crazy, this all started almost exactly 2 years ago.
So that's where we are. Waiting for cat scan and results; and knowing that "He knows the plans He has for us. Plans to proper and not harm, plans to give hope and a future."
Please be in prayer with us, that God's will be done, no matter what, and that we will praise Him and He will be glorified in this situation.
I will keep you posted.......
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