06/03/2026
Gavin Update: Now That We’ve Had a Few Days to Process 💚
If you missed our post on Monday, we spent the day in St. Louis meeting with Gavin’s orthopedic team and discussing the next step in his journey after his spinal fusion aka phase✌🏼
Now that we’ve had a couple of days to digest everything, answer questions, and read through the surgical notes, I thought I’d explain a little more about what’s actually going on and what surgery will accomplish.
After Gavin’s spinal fusion in April corrected his severe scoliosis (something unexpected happened that happened super quickly over 18 months of growth). Once his spine was straight and his pelvis was level, we could finally see problems that had been hidden by the severity of his spinal curve.
What we were seeing was a condition called a windswept hip deformity.
In Gavin’s case, his left leg naturally pulls inward while his right leg rotates outward and away from his body. His right leg is also about an inch longer than his left. The result is that his hips, pelvis, knees, and feet all sit in different positions.
Think of it like a tree that has spent years growing around an obstacle. Once the obstacle is removed, you can finally see how the trunk, branches, and roots adapted around it.
The scoliosis wasn’t causing the windswept deformity, but it was hiding how significant it had become.
Since his spinal fusion, we’ve noticed:
• Leaning and sliding in his wheelchair
• Difficulty maintaining positioning
• One leg collapsing inward while the other drifts outward
• Muscle tightness and contractures
• Challenges getting him back to standing equipment
The good news is that his hips are still properly located and not dislocated. The orthopedic team feels this is the right time to intervene before these deformities become more fixed and difficult to correct.
On August 25th, Gavin will undergo lower-extremity reconstruction surgery.
The plan includes:
🦴 Releasing tight muscles in his left hip that limit movement and pull the leg inward.
🦴 Rotating and repositioning the left femur (thigh bone) so the leg sits in a more natural alignment.
🦴 Rotating and repositioning the right femur while also shortening it to correct the approximately 1-inch leg length difference by removing a chunk of bone below the femural growth plate and reattaching with more rods and screws.
🦴 Releasing tight hamstrings, particularly on the right side, to improve positioning and range of motion.
🦴 Addressing hip flexion contractures that have developed over time.
🦴 Performing a tendon transfer in his right foot to improve positioning and prevent progression of deformity.
The goal isn’t simply straighter legs.
The goal is better sitting posture, better positioning, improved comfort, easier transfers, a more level pelvis, and ultimately getting Gavin back into standing, weight-bearing, and using a gait trainer again.
The surgery itself will take 4-6 hours and the expected hospital stay is 3–5 days. He’ll be fitted with a Newport Hip Orthosis after surgery that will go from ribs to ankles and keep his legs in a spread position and straight, and the team expects he could potentially return to school within 3 weeks, 4 weeks max.
Then after 4 weeks post op he will begin outpatient PT 3 times a week until he is 10 weeks post op, at which point he will undergo a week or two of intensive daily physical therapy. So instead of 1 hour 3 days it will be 5+ hours 5-14 days in a row.
We also learned that we should wait until after surgery to complete his custom wheelchair seating. Since his body alignment is going to change significantly, it makes more sense to build a seating system for the body he’ll have after surgery rather than the one he has today.
As always, thank you for following along, cheering him on, praying for him, donating, sharing updates, and being part of our village. We know we’re asking a lot of this kid, but if there’s one thing Gavin has proven over and over again, it’s that he’s tougher than all of us. 💚
As extremely thankful as we are for the $10,000 we fundraised for the first half of his surgery, we are no where near the total expected for the copayments on new equipment, hospital stays, orthotics, travel expenses, meals for the family while home, living expenses for FMLA time off. As many of you know being a small business owner isn’t a “get rich” kinda job in this economy. We’d appreciate all the shares we can get!
💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
And on a completely unrelated note, today is the first day of our summer schedule at Bewitching Botanicals!
We’re closed on Wednesdays, but we’ll be back tomorrow from 10 AM–6 PM.
Stop in, say hi, grab a coffee, browse some books, smell all the smells, and let me tell you all about orthopedic surgery if that’s your thing.
