15 Apr Spine

One minute, my teenage son was going to have to wear a brace for a year. The next minute, he was fine.

I’ve been working on living in the moment. Not thinking about what’s about to happen, what just happened or even what could happen, but simply living fully in the moment I’m in. This has come in handy. Last week, on my drive to Alabama with my kids during their spring break, my son’s doctor called and told us that Dalton had a fractured spine. Dalton’s back had been bothering him for a couple of months. We thought he had pulled a muscle. After taking him to the doctor and going through x-rays and bone scans, they determined his spine was fractured. They mentioned that some patients have to wear a back brace for a year. Of course, they couldn’t discuss the details of his condition or our options over the phone. And they made an appointment to see us a week into the future. A week is a long time when you’re 15 and thinking you might not get to play sports for a year. Dalton was devastated. I told him not to think about it. We don’t know any details and there’s no sense worrying about it till we do. I didn’t think about it either. We had a nice couple of days on Spring Break.

When we met with the doctor a week later, we learned that he has a unilateral pars defect. (This means that one of the two hinge-type things that come off each disc in his spine was broken off). The good news was, they already saw evidence that the bone was trying to heal itself. It was growing bone to reconnect. Amazing.

Sometimes it’s NOT doing that gets things done.

The diagnosis. No golf, but he can still run and play soccer. The injury will heal itself. We don’t even have to go back to the doctor unless Dalton experiences more back pain.
That was a good moment.