Evo Terra (Host): Welcome to Healing Heroes PDX, the podcast series from the specialist at Shriners Children's Portland. Today, an inspiring patient journey highlighting a young student athlete's path through Shriners Children's Portland. Grady, Ryan, thank you very much for joining me today.

Grady: Thank you for having us.

Ryan: Yeah. Glad to be here. Thank you.

Host: So Grady, can you tell me a little bit about your scoliosis diagnosis, and specifically, when was it discovered?

Grady: It was discovered in 2021, end of summer. And when we first found out, it was in a tiny room in a hospital.

Host: So 2021, what grade were you in at that time?

Grady: Seventh grade.

Host: Seventh grade. Okay. So Ryan, I'll ask you the question. What went through your mind when your son had this diagnosis?

Grady and Ryan: I think, on our end as parents, we didn't necessarily understand how serious scoliosis was or could be. I think initially it was just kind of we had been looking at his back. And gosh, it looks like he's got a little bit of curvature there. We should go get it checked out. And we went and just saw a pediatric orthopedic doctor, didn't even seek out a back specialist initially.

And so, from our mind, I don't think we understood at that point. It's during COVID and we got five kids. And so, you're just kind of like, "Oh, his back looks a little off. Let's get it checked out." And you don't really grasp the seriousness of it. And we really didn't until we came to Shriners just a little over a year ago. We went three years without really getting how serious the potential negative impacts it could have on Grady long term if we didn't address it.

Host: Grady, I know that must have been rather uncomfortable for you, was it?

Grady: It was very uncomfortable, the entire journey was. And even when I first found out, it kind of dropped my stomach a little bit.

Ryan: When we got the diagnosis, they do all the measurements. And I think at that point, 34% was the curvature that they diagnosed him with or where he was at. And, hey, if we get to 50, that's when we start exploring potential surgery options. And so, Grady got fitted for a $4,000 brace and he was pretty skinny at the time. And so, this is the part where like we were so uninformed and ignorant. I honestly thought the brace would correct it. And only it was about a year later where we found out that, no, the brace doesn't correct it. It just hopefully kind of keeps you where you're at. And then, maybe over time, you kind of grow through some of the scoliosis. And so, we didn't do a great job of Grady wearing it that first year. It was pretty uncomfortable for him to wear it at night. And so, we go back, you know, in a year and now he's at a little over 50%. And that's when they told us, "Oh no, Hey, that brace doesn't correct it. It just maintains it." And so, in my mind, it was always like, "Okay, well, as he gets a little older and he gains a little weight, so that the brace isn't quite as cumbersome. We'll wear the brace and it'll correct it. And all will be good. And then, it was a year later, it was like, "Oh, wow, we've really gone down the wrong path here." And we got to start looking at some options and alternatives.

Host: And that's when I assume you got connected with Shriners Children's Portland?

Grady and Ryan: Well, that's a whole 'nother story. This was in '22. So, we went 2021, kind of summer '21, got diagnosed, got the brace, really didn't wear it, went back in a year. "Oh, hey, now you've jumped from 33% to low 50s." We went about another year and a half in that window roughly. And I have a really rare hereditary bone disorder called MHE and kind of the worldwide sort of experts on my disorder is this place in Florida. And so, my wife was looking online at some stuff and happened to notice that they also treat spine issues like scoliosis. And there was this relatively new procedure called tethering.

And I would say this was about December of '23, my wife found this and showed it to me and we've made plans for Grady and I to go spring break of '24 to get checked out. And essentially, in our mindset, it was, "Okay we're going to do this tethering procedure. If it works out, that seems to be the way to go." And we were getting ready to book our flights, and I said to my wife, I said, "Let's see if there's anywhere on the west coast that does this tethering procedure." And so, my wife's kind of an internet research master. And so, she found, "Gee, sure enough, Shriners in Portland has it." And we were able to get in. Luckily, Dr. Welborn had a cancellation and we were able to get in within a week or two. And then, that's kind of where we went from there. But initially, we had in our mind this whole tethering procedure was going to be the solution and the fix to Grady's back issues.

Host: You mentioned Dr. Welborn. So, maybe this was for you, Grady. Can you kind of walk us through when you first saw Dr. Welborn, what the process was like?

Grady: At the start, it was kind of like a normal doctor checkup. And then, she was probably the best person that I've ever met for this type of stuff. She ran me and my dad through, that the tethering really is not what we should do at all. And honestly, she was very supportive and very helpful with us throughout the entire journey of it.

Host: That's fantastic news. So, she said no tethering. So, what was the treatment course she recommended?

Ryan: It was kind of funny. We go in and I'm talking to her. And two minutes in when you're around people that are just experts in their field, whatever it is, you just pick up on it right away. It was so obvious how capable she was almost immediately.

Grady and Ryan: We're talking about it, and they'd already done all these testing. And by then, Grady was up over 70%. I said, "Well, hey, we're kind of interested in this tethering procedure, et cetera, et cetera." And she looks at Grady. She looks at me. She goes, "You'll probably find somebody that'll do the tethering surgery." She goes, "I won't do it on him." And I was kind of taken aback. You know, she was pretty direct about it. And I was like, "Okay. Well, why not?" And she said, "Well, for one thing, his curves are too severe. They want to be closer to 50." And then, she looks at Grady and Grady hit puberty a little early. And so, she goes, "You got a mustache, dude. You're pretty much done growing." And I guess the tethering procedure is for kids that have a little more room to grow than Grady looked like.

And so, from there, we kind of went to, "Okay, so this full blown. Put a rod in his back. Surgery is the way to go." And really, from there, the conversations were more about, "Okay, how can we do the surgery, help him recover from scoliosis and also sort of minimize the impact longterm so that you can hopefully come back and continue to be an athlete and play sports and enjoy a little more quality of life. They ended up settling on like a half rod procedure.

Host: So Grady, back to you for a second. I know you're a competitive basketball player. What went through your mind when you learned you needed spinal surgery?

Grady: Actually, I wasn't too worried about it because for about two years I was playing with the curve. And then, every day, once I start getting closer and closer to the end of the season, closer and closer to the surgery, I kind of started to get a little nervous and wondering, "Well, how's my after surgery going to work and will I really ever be able to play competitively again?" 

Host: Yeah, that's a definite question I think anybody would have at that time. But you went through with it. You had the surgery. I'm curious what the first few weeks were like after that.

Grady: The first week was not very good. It was a lot of pain like I've never experienced before. And then, my parents, they called doctors and asked what we should do. And then, they gave us some really good suggestions. And for the next three weeks that I was home, it was a lot better.

Ryan: You know, he did great in the hospital. And surgery was on a Wednesday, and they had told us all along, "Hey, Saturday, maybe even a Sunday, release." And he was doing so well, they actually released him on Friday morning. And so, I think we thought like, "Oh God, he's doing great. He's got all this stuff figured out." And we got home and it went from, "Boy, he' doing great" to he's waking up, "Let's go back and take this out of my back." I mean, he was just in ungodly pain.

And the mistake we made as parents was we would give him his medication and then he would fall asleep. And in my mind, you never wake your kids up when they're sleeping unless like something's terrible happening. So, we wouldn't wake him up. So, he'd go and then wake up in the morning and the meds are worn off. And it takes an hour or so before the meds kick in. And so, he was in an ungodly amount of pain. I know we probably went what about four or five days like that where it was just pretty miserable. And then, we called Dr. Welborn. And basically, she told me, "Hey, here's what we've got to do." And literally, we just created a calendar like every two hours. "Okay. At 10:00 AM, you've got..." whatever it was, his meds, his exercising, all of that. And basically, for about five, six, seven, eight days, I was waking up middle of the night every two, three hours. But once we got on that regimented plan, I mean, it was great. From then, he really hasn't had any pain.

Host: Well, that's excellent news. I know that there's some physical therapy that was taking place here at Shriners Children's Portland. You were working with Michelle Foss, I think. Tell us about that experience.

Grady: She was great. She knew a lot about basketball, which that was pretty cool. And that was very helpful. But she definitely knew what she was doing. And it definitely helped me as of now and at the time as well, it definitely helped me get stronger and helping my pain a lot more.

Ryan: The thing I really was really impressed with Michelle after the first meeting with her, talking to her about what Grady was hoping to get back to, like everything was geared towards him getting back on the basketball court. So, all of his movements and PT exercises were all geared to, "Hey, this is going to help you in this situation on the court. This is going to help..." She knew the game and she was able to communicate, "Hey, this is how this is going to carry over and transition. And you do this exercise, it's going to help you get better in this area." And that was pretty neat, to see that she took the time to really have an individualized program for Grady specific to what he wanted to do and where he was hoping to get.

Host: You mentioned a little bit obviously about pain management and medications on a rigorous basis, but it was more than that. What was it like navigating through the process of getting Grady the best care for his scoliosis from your perspective as a dad?

Ryan: Like I mentioned, I have that really rare bone disorder. And growing up as a kid, we didn't grow up particularly wealthy, but that was one thing my parents always did. We always had great medical care, like braces. And my disease at the time was kind of unknown. My doctor growing up, we drove from rural Oregon to Eugene twice a year to see the University of Oregon football team doctor, who was my surgeon. So, that was how I grew up. Like, my parents always took great care of our health. And so, I've always tried to do the same with my kids. Make sure that we're not neglecting anything, but the best for them.

So, once we were able to find Dr. Welborn and really try to go down that path, our goal as parents was just let's find the best option. And luckily, we had a world-class option here in Portland. Half hour from home Shriners hospital. And, we're very, very fortunate and we're very blessed too. Like, we have great insurance. Grady was double covered throughout the whole process. And so, having that luxury that, you know, maybe a lot of families don't. For us, it's always been really easy to just like, "Hey, we're going to do whatever the best option is for our kids from a medical standpoint," we're going to do that. And so, we've been very lucky. And this was just part of our sort of overall big picture mindset. And then, like I said, having Dr. Welborn here locally, it was just an amazing blessing.

Host: It's now been a year, almost a year, since the surgery's happening. Ryan, I'm going to ask you another question about Grady's recovery path, how you've seen it there at home and when he was in the hospital as well.

Ryan: I think we look at it from like the athletic perspective, I've been a basketball coach for a long time. And so, he's been pain-free really for probably 11 months, I would say. Wouldn't you say, bud? I mean, yeah, it really has been amazing. And even as the rehab got more intense and he got cleared to do more and more, there really hasn't been a lot of back-related pain, surgery-related pain, which has been amazing. I really did not expect that. So, that part's been great.

I think he's about probably 80% of the way back just from a stamina and strength standpoint. And that's just stuff when you have a surgery this size and scope that just takes time to get back. But a year ago was we were getting ready for surgery if you had said, "Hey, great, he's going to get through this whole process and play a sophomore year and have a good sophomore year." And where we're at today, it's an absolute best case scenario. If you told me this is where we were going to be, I would have said, "I'll take it in a heartbeat." I can't imagine it going any better and being any smoother. And hopefully, we'll just continue to build the strength back up and won't have any more scoliosis-related issues the rest of his life.

Host: That means, Grady, I think you're going to be a junior next year? Is that right?

Grady: Yeah.

Host: How would you say your basketball game is right now? And better, how do you think it'll be next season? Are you ready to play at 100%?

Grady: I think I will be able to play 100%. As of now, my game has definitely switched from what it used to be. I'm more of a shooter now than what I used to be, but I would say I still have same amount of knowledge and IQ that I used to have, just not the same skill that I used to have.

Host: Ryan, anything you would like to add before we wrap things up here?

Grady and Ryan: Yeah. You know, for him, I mean, I think from a coach's perspective, the things that he's going to have to continue to get better at, because of the surgery and the way his back was leading up to it, he really hasn't been able to put the time and intensity into like weight training and strength and conditioning yet. And I think that's going to be coming here in the next month or two. And so, I think once he does that, he's going to take a significant jump up and get to where he wants to be, where his goals are as a player. And he actually transferred schools this year from a four-day school in Oregon to a six-day school in Oregon. I think he's done a great job of making that adjustment. I think a great off season in the weight room and he'll be able to achieve the goals he wants.

So, I see him physically, the surgery definitely has helped, like he mentioned shooting. And he's always been a decent shooter, but it was always like noticeable him trying to kind of adjust his body to compensate for the severe curve. And now, he doesn't have to. And now, he's really kind of turned into one of the better shooters in the state, not having to make that adjustment every time. So, it's been fun to watch as a dad and a coach.  

Host: Great. Great. Grady, last question for you. Did you at least get out of having to do sprints or running and laps, all the stuff that I hated when I played basketball?

Grady: When it first happened, definitely, I mean, I wasn't even able to really run.

Host: Sure.

Grady: That was my excuse for about the first two months about doing pretty much anything.

Host: That's the bad thing about having a dad who's also a coach is that excuse dries up pretty quickly. Ryan, thanks for joining me. Grady, thank you for sharing your story with us today.

Ryan: Absolutely. Thanks for having us.

Grady: Thank you.

Host: And that concludes this episode of Healing Heroes PDX with Shriners Children's Portland. For more information, visit our website at shrinersportland.org. If you found this podcast episode helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full library for topics of interest to you.

I'm Evo Terra, and this has been Healing Heroes PDX, the podcast series from the specialists at Shriners Children's Portland. Thanks for listening.