The verdict

I'll go through the day in another blog - but the important thing now is what the consultant said:

The MRI scan shows all is normal:

"There is thoracic scoliosis concave the the right. No obvious vertebral anomaly seen. Normal appearance of the spinal core. No evidence of cord tethering. The cord terminates at L1/2 level. No evidence of a syrinx. Normal appearance of the craniocervical junction. No evidence of cord compression or disc prolapse is seen." 

There is no need for any further MRIs.

The consultant thinks that the curvature will resolve - possibly by the time J is 18 months old.

The consultant compared the x-rays from today (he had 2 - one on his back and one lying on his side) with the one from May 5th and thought there had been a drop from 33* to 30* since May. He said the chest one from Feb couldn’t be used to compare (it doesn’t show things well enough).

[NB the spinal nurse explained afterwards that there is a margin of error in the calculations for angles, so whereas Mr Marks said 38* and Mr Thompson said 33* for the May one, that isn't important. The important thing is the same person's comparison between May and now.]

If it does resolve now, there will be no consequences in later life.

So what happens next? We will carry on with the soft casts, changing them every two weeks and then J will have more x-rays in 2 months' time and another appointment with one of the consultants. He expects to see more improvement by then.

We discussed other things including Mehta casting but I will do a separate post later. He is not an advocate of Mehta casting - let's leave it at that for now.  

It is, I think, cautious good news. It was all couched in terms of "I would put money on [this being a curve that will get better on its own]" and "I think..." - but he's very experienced and he believes it will be one of the 85% of infantile scoliosis cases which resolve.

It could have been progressive. There could have been all sorts of things on the MRI. But instead it looks as though J might be lucky and have one of the "good" types of scoliosis which correct themselves (with a bit of help from the cast too).

I don't feel exactly happy - we're not there yet - but there is cause for relief about what it isn't and what it looks like it might be. Fingers crossed for good improvement by the end of September.....

update:
Just to say - I can't remember what he said about braces except that they're not as effective as casting for this stage (harder to get traction). Mr Marks seemed to think a brace would be necessary after the casts to maintain the spine until J is 4 years old. That was the best case scenario he gave. I will need to ask about that in a couple of months.