Surgery Details

We met with the orthopedic surgeon today and I was "forced" to hear the details of the surgery. To put it simply, they will put Jack on a "rack" (the surgeon's word - not mine). They will place a halo with screws in his head and screw some other device to his knees, then they will stretch him out as far as they can to straighten his spine. Then, they place two long rods - one on each side of his spine, place brackets all along the sides of his spine to keep the rods in place, and place anchor screws in his pelvis. It just sounds so barbaric to me. The surgery is expected to take 6 1/2 hours. After we met with the surgeon, it was off to the lab for pre-op blood work. It took 7 sticks to get all the blood they needed for the tests - poor Jack was such a trooper through it all. I think Jack will need a more permanent line put in (a central line) because if he blows an IV, it will be near impossible to get another one in. Needless to say, Jack and I were both glad to get this day over with. I'm beyond scared for Friday ....