Tethered Cord

When we started Roscoe's journey, we thought it would be a short section of bumpy road followed by lots of smooth sailing (to mix analogies). We found out today that doctors were curious about a small dimple they saw at the top of Roscoe's rear end, called a "sacral dimple". They said that the dimple may indicate some non-threatening issues with his spine.

Kaiser ran an ultrasound on his spine this morning and suspect that Roscoe has a tethered spinal cord. Tomorrow they will perform an MRI which allows them to have a more detailed view of his spine. If his spinal cord is tethered, it will mean another surgery for our little man. While it sounds very serious, it's not nearly as threatening as other stuff Roscoe has been through.

When we told Roscoe the news, this was the look on his face:

We'll keep the blog updated with any news we get about this latest development. The good news is that he has good leg movement and seems responsive to touch, so that indicates his nervous system is working great in his lower half. Some articles have said that numbness may be an effect of a tethered spinal cord. If so, then maybe this was God's way of guarding Roscoe from the pain of 7+ months of blood samples taken from his feet?

Seriously, we couldn't make up a story like Roscoe's if we tried.