June 12, 2013 UDATED

Yesterday, I was riddled with anxiety;  will he be mad at us when he wakes up with the halo, will he think we betrayed him yet again, will he adjust ok, will it hurt, how will he lay on his side as he so often does...there were even a few is he breathing funny post op worries.  But today represents every reason I have been excited to do this treatment and to do it here at TSRHC.  He has been wonderful!  You would never know he had the halo except for the fact that it makes for a bit of a wide load.

He got to take a shower tonight and after he realized nobody was going to be doing anything to him, he loved it.  Which is great because he will need a shower every night to help keep the pins clean!  

He did a couple of hours of traction tonight and did not seem bothered by it at all.  We started him off with between two and five pounds.  Over the next couple of weeks, he will move up to 20 pounds.  Here's how it works... His halo has a ring that attaches to a hook that can spin all the way around.  That is connected to a pulley system which is connected to another pulley system through cording.  The top pulley system is linked to springs on either side that provide a controlled amount of weighted traction.  We tighten the cord to allow for the amount of traction we are aiming for.  The actual traction will vary slightly depending on whether he is slouching or not.  The more he slouches, the more traction he gets.  As the traction gently pulls up on his spine, gravity will be pulling down in order to "stretch" him out.  Hopefully we do X-rays in two weeks to check for results.  And because I know many of you have a hard time picturing this, though you are trying...

It seems cruel, it seems hard to believe, but we have seen the good that comes from this treatment.  Without it, Clayton's scoliosis would one day cripple his body and impair its functioning.  So despite what it may seem, the children don't seem bothered by it and it can fix them...safely. Yes, it is the safest means for correcting scoliosis.

Anyway, we also really like this hospital.  It is relatively small and we have all kinds of freedom around the grounds.  We can go almost anywhere in the building and at night all of the floors except for our own are absolute empty which is awesome.  We actually use the top floor as our walking track because its one big circle...and it has a solarium with a basketball hoop.  Here is mine and Clayton's home for the next few months...

Our room is the last three windows on the top floor.