Some Serious Hardware...

[57 lima bean]

He may have enough money from graduation for the copay.Best wishes to a cool kid!

[garyv]

Glad to hear he came through the surgery ok and hope he has a complication free recovery.
It's good that your wife is a Physician and can keep an eye on him while he is in there. That will
keep them on their toes.

God bless
garyv

[e philpott]

Hard to look at it without hurting myself , yuk , hate to hear of a young fella having to go through this , sure hope he has a speedy recover

[BattlestarGalactic]

Wow!!!  Did they use a Dewalt or Milwaukee drill driver?   

I hope for a speedy recover Jay.   

A very good friend had back surgery last Nov with two rods installed and couple fusions.  Being 65 yrs young he is still in the slow stages of therapy.  He can get around, but still a slow road. 

[Stangman]

Wow its amazing the things that that modern medicine and surgeries can do. I dont know if this a silly question but after a certian amount of time can that come out or is that a forever thing.

[jayb]

Thanks for all the good wishes, Max and our family certainly appreciate that.  He had a pretty tough night with pain last night, but is doing much better today, even walked a few steps.

No helicoils in there Barry, just some big drywall-like screws   The heads on the screws have a hole that the steel rod slides through, and the rods are full floating, so he will have some mobility in his back, but they will still keep his vertebrae in alignment.  That hardware is in there for good, it will never come out.  He will get a special card to carry with him at the airport to explain why he sets off every metal detector in the place.  Cost on the operation plus the day in the ICU and another 4-5 days in the hospital will total well into the six figures.  Fortunately we have good medical insurance, out of pocket will be something like $6K.

If all goes as planned Max will be starting as a computer engineering major at the University of Wisconsin in September.

[Bolted to Floor]

Good to hear he is on the mend.

Thanks for the miracles of modern medicine.

[Jim Comet]

Best wishes to Max and your family. Jim

[BruceS]

Wow, your son Max is also a brave young man!  He seems to be getting the best of care though especially with Mom nearby.  Best wishes for a full and uneventful recovery to Max and your whole family from southeast Tx. 

[Royce]

Wow  Max will be a Badger!   Instant street cred...  On Wisconsin!

[bsprowl]

Glad to read that he is doing well.

Like so many others, I  didn't know you had a son that old.

Bob

[Joe-JDC]

Best wishes to Max!  Don't let the geese chase him for a while.  I don't think running would be a good thing about now.  Hopefully he will recover very quickly.  Joe-JDC

[WConley]

Best wishes to Max!  Do exactly what the physical therapist says    It will hurt, but take the medicine now so you enjoy a lifetime with minimal pain. 

If he needs some stories, I've got 'em!  Oh, and good thing Max didn't wait much longer to get his procedure.  Turns out I'm just starting a project with a surgical company to design a line of those exact spinal bone screws.  If you think Snap-On stuff is expensive, you should price out the tools they use to install those things!  Add two zeroes to anything you can think of 

Seriously, best wishes for a speedy recovery.  He's got bragging rights now.  Like me, Max will probably be developing a healthy fear of overly-friendly TSA officers with rubber gloves.

[rcodecj]

Glad to hear he is doing better. I have a titanium plate and screws in my neck and it is amazing how the screws look like common drywall screws in an x-ray.  Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[cjshaker]

Like me, Max will probably be developing a healthy fear of overly-friendly TSA officers with rubber gloves.

If they would hire young, good looking agents, they could cut the complaints down by at least half. Of course that would probably be offset by the upset wives

I had a friend in highschool who had scoliosis. Back then they only did the corrective brace thing, which worked for her. Hope Max recovers good and it's a non-issue for him through the years. At his age, he should recover good, or at least much faster than us old guys. I doubt the nurses and doctors are as excited about your wife being present, but that's still a good thing. Having had both parents in and out of the hospital over the last few years (they're getting old), you can believe me when I say...keep an eye on everything they do! Stupid mistakes are much more common than you'd think! One almost cost my Mom her life just a couple months ago. Everything is done by computer communication, and there is very little verbal communication anymore. That is NOT a good thing.