In between surgeries today, I got a chance to see a couple more scoliosis patients. One is young man named Jacob who is 13, soon to be 14 years old. We are following him and his brother for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. His right thoracic curve has progressed a bit since last visit and is now around 26 degrees.
We had a long talk with him and his mom about using a scoliosis Boston Brace at this point. After discussing the commitment of time *(18 hrs / day x approx 5 years til done growing), Jacob especially had strong negative interest in wearing the brace. You gotta pick your battles with your teenagers! (I know — I’ve had 2 teens)
Jacob turned out to be much more of a “card” than I initially expected. When I told him the choice of Boston Brace vs. just “follow you” with repeat X-Rays, Jacob responded —– “So you are going to stalk me?” —– At first I didn’t get it, so he had to explain —-> “You told me that you were going to FOLLOW ME!”
Then Jacob told me he had a couple of jokes to tell me….which I told him I had to hear. With his permission and his mom, here is Jacob telling his two jokes.
The first joke is: “Two peanuts were walking down the road, and one was a “salted” (assaulted).
The popcorn kernel that a-saulted him was charged with “a salt and buttery”!!
We also discussed his future career building robots. When I was at MIT, I loved their Course 2.70 robot competitions, and there is apparently some sort of NC robot competition here for high schools. Jacob’s mom will check that out.
Never a dull moment. We love our younger guests here at Hey Clinic!
Dr. Lloyd Hey
Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery