Don't you just love when medical specialist's disagree?
When Bean had his xray over a month ago to re-check his neck instability we were told this. That was his orthopedic doc. The x-ray's were then sent to his neurosurgeon who said, "I'm not comfortable with these numbers."

(Bean with our friend, Kerin, whom he loves.)

So tomorrow we will arrive bright and early to outpatient surgery with a hungry Bean so that he can receive a sedated MRI. We know that the gap between C1 and C2 is wide, what we need to find out is whether or not his spine is being compromised during flexion and extension because of the gap. The MRI will (should) answer that question.


I have already been in contact with the specialist at Shriner's in PA that we consulted last summer and he is waiting on the results, which we will overnight after we leave the hospital.

Just to test his neck (and us) Bean took a tumble down the stairs before church on Sunday. It happened so fast that I couldn't reach him in time but did witness the head over heels, bouncing tumble. We both reached the base of the stairs at the same time at which point I scooped up a very scared Bean. I can't think of a time that I have gone from calm to scared out of my mind so quickly. After Bean calmed down, and James and I recovered from our small breakdown, he climbed off our lap and went to playing. The on-call doctor was comfortable with us skipping an ER visit based on his behaviour so we went on to church. Still very shaken.


A tumble down the stairs is scary for any kid, but when you are told that you should not even allow your child to do a forward roll because of the risk of spinal cord damage due to AAI, well, "scary" doesn't begin to cover it!


I think I may have to invest in a very large roll of bubble wrap.