Last Friday was our every-4-months-visit to the Orthopedic Surgeon. And, the kids were actually BUMMED to miss school because it was pajama and movie day (if I had only KNOWN 4 months ago when I scheduled it, I would have tried for a better day!) 🙂 Anyway, we usually go as an entire family because it’s a 2 hour drive to the University of Michigan facility we go to, and because I like to have my husband there for support (I’m always expecting the worst, I guess). Well, my daughter, who is now 9, is holding in her Cheneau brace. She is at about 56 degrees (although, I’m sure everyone reading this is aware that the curve can really be + or – 5 degrees from the measurement). Anyway, she was x-rayed 24 hours out of brace. Before the Cheneau, she was a 67 degree, but that was about 15 months ago, so we were hoping for a bit more progress. We figure where we are lacking is in her Schroth and strength building exercises – we figure that since she is 24 hours out of brace, she needs the muscular training to hold her body in position while out of brace, and then we’ll get better overall results. Since she’s a bit older now than when we first introduced the Schroth techniques, we hope she (and we) can stick to it better. I’d also like to see her doing abdominal and core training exercises once a day when out of the brace since it would seem that the core could get really weak when braced all day. Since none of these activities can HURT, I figure we’ll go ahead and give it a try.
As for my son, he, unfortunately, has progressed. He’s going to be 7 next month and broke the plateau of 20 degrees – that was my pre-determined breaking point for when he would get a nighttime brace. We’ve been so happy with Luke Stikeleather in Virginia, that we are going to have him fitted for a Cheneau for nighttime use. For my daughter, we went the route of the Spinecor when she was in the mid-20 degrees, but we’re going to try this for our son and see if we can get by with being ultra aggressive at night for some freedom during the day. He surprised me, though. Bracing is such a way of life at home, that he is actually EXCITED to be braced. I am just developing my bodysuit design for boys and men, and was able to make him a prototype. He LOVED it and is very excited now to put a brace on top. I think all this time he felt left out that his sister was getting all the “attention”. Well, he will have a lot of adjusting to do, but there is something to be said for getting them prepared early.
As for me, I am taking 6 days away from it all (literally), to go visit Miami, Florida, where I spent many of my childhood and teenage years. I am taking 4 girlfriends with me and am very excited to just relax, focus on warming up and rejuvinating my mind, spirit, and body, so I can be fresh and full of new ideas for helping others through this ministry of my work for and with Scoliosis (and other types) of patients. I hope everyone reading this can take a mini-vacation to recharge in times of stress. Blessings to everyone! Have a great week! Next week, I hope to introduce all sorts of new products on the horizon for EmBraced In Comfort – great stuff, created from requests from brace patients. Adios!