A tethered cord

Corryn was born with a small sacral dimple. It was just suspicious enough to warrant further investigation, which is what we spent the morning doing. She had an MRI, then we had an appointment with the neurosurgeon to find out the results. In spite of our hopes that it was completely benign, it isn't. It isn't a major problem by any means, but it always feels major when it's your child. A part of the bottom of her spinal cord is attached to her tailbone in such a way that as she gets older it will put tension on the spinal cord and very potentially cause neurological problems. It could affect things like walking, and bowel and bladder control. The solution is to go in and surgically clip the tether.

Of course, there's the chance that it would cause no problems at all. But, if we wait and see and problems do occur, very often that function that was affected does not return, even with surgical un-tethering of the cord.

It's a fairly minor procedure in neurosurgical terms, but it's still neurosurgery. It isn't scheduled yet- we're working out some details, but the recommendation is that it's done before she starts crawling to make recovery easier. She has to stay more or less horizontal- not in a bed, horizontal is some way and it's easier before they gain the ability to pull up on things.

Dave & I are feeling as anyone would feel when their infant is facing surgery- worried, scared, stressed. Dillon's trying to figure it out, too as best a 4 year old can.