On the advice from a very good friend in America, we’ve taken Jaxon to a chiropractor to try and sort out his arm and neck problems.
Our first appointment was on Tuesday. It was THE BEST. For the first time ever, someone sat and watched Jaxon play to see what he was and wasn’t doing with his arm, instead of asking me to explain it. I LOVED this. It’s so annoying to have someone ask something about Jaxon, when just a few minutes of their time and a few toys will show them what is going on. I was very impressed.
Anyway, he wanted to get x-rays done to see what is going on. They normally don’t do x-rays on such young children. But not many kids go to them with bent necks and dysfunctional arms. He needed to know what was actually wrong before he went ahead and tried to treat it.
We got the x-rays done that day and went back today to see what they could do for Jaxon. The very last thing I expected was to be told that Jaxon only has half of his cervical vertebrae C5. THAT is why his neck is on a tilt, it has next to nothing to do with his torticollis (although that does still exist) He explained that the torticollis is what prevents Jaxon from turning all the way right, while the missing chunk of his vertebrae is the cause for the tilt.
We don’t know what this means. We don’t know if this means surgery. We don’t know if this means that Jaxon will live with his head the way it is for the rest of his life. Now we have to get another appointment with the paediatrician and see what HE thinks. But being that this is in his neck, or more specifically, his spine…I can NOT see a single person who would be willing to go in and try to fix it. I’m not sure I would even want someone to fix it because the chance of something going wrong would far outweigh the choice to let Jaxon live with such a small thing.
Not that I think this is small. Don’t get me wrong. I spent a good part of my one hour trip home crying. I was not expecting to hear anything like this. In fact, I was so confident that the chiropractor would be able to work his magic on Jaxon for the next year or so and have everything under control. Before he saw the x-rays I think HE thought that as well. So I am of course upset.
Here are Jaxon’s x-rays. It was very difficult to get these done. Daddy had to hold him from the front while another nurse had to support him from the back. This was the “findings” that the x-ray man reported to the chiro. He did not pick up on the missing C5.
Posterior fusions of the cervical vertebrae and loss of disc height. Scoliosis (convex to the left side in both) the cervical and thoracic regions of the spine.
The chiropractor then wrote in his very messy doctor like writing, congenital aplasia of C5- hemivertebra
If you can make heads of tails of any of that, please leave a comment! Somewhere in that yellow circle is the missing vertebrae (or part of)
^^^ TEETH ^^^
I just have to keep reminding myself that Jaxon will be ok with this. It’s not like he wont be able to walk or talk or be the smartest boy in school. He may or may not get teased, something I don’t wish on any child. But he WILL be ok even if that happens.
It is great news that you have finally narrowed down what is causing everything, Boo. That is the best way to deal with it all, emotionally too. I am sorry to hear that it won’t be a simple fix, though. And you are competely right about Jaxon being okay dispite the results. We all have our quirks. I think you know about what we are going through right now with Liam’s missing testicle, so you know I can totally sympathize. I am wishing you all the best and for you to know that solutions will come in their own time. And Jaxon is freaking cute!!
Lisa,
Believe it or not, I was thinking about you and my situations and how similar they are while I cried on the trip home! This happened in utero as well.
He’ll be ok. I know that in my heart.
Thank you for your comment.
Boo