Sunday, May 25, 2008

Scoliosis Update

Well, we just took Kynadi down to Primary Children's to meet with her Doc. and see how her scoliosis is doing and to see if the brace is working. They took an X-ray of her with her brace off this time to see how her back is holding on it's own. The results were very positive. She originally had a 50 degree curve in her back and it was kinda spread throughout her spine. The x-rays this time showed only a 30 degree curve and it was concentrated in her lower spine. Her upper spine looked really straight.

The Dr. we meet with at Primary Children's doesn't impress me all that much. He doesn't really talk to us much or explain anything. In fact I asked him about chiropractic care for treatment of scoliosis and his only reply was, "It doesn't work. I have patients that have tried it, but if it were me I wouldn't waste my money!" Ok so I realize you don't think it works...Docs and Chiropractors don't seem to see eye to eye much, but I wanted reasoning. Explanation as to why it wouldn't help, anything besides his blunt, almost annoyed that I was even asking, answer.

So anyway, if it weren't for the fact that we also meet with the specialists at Shields Orthopedics I would be annoyed at the waste of time and money it is to drive the 3 hours to go to the doc. Shields Orthopedic is the place that creates Kynadi's brace. It is very impressive to me to see all the calculations and precision that goes into making the brace. Anyway, the specialist there talked to us for almost an hour and a half. She went over both the old and new x-rays and explained how the spine was being affected. She explained that the results may be even better than 30 degrees because one of Kynadi's hip bones was raised in the x-ray and it wasn't in any of the other ones, telling the docs that Kynadi probably bent her leg or something during the x-ray, which would then, obviously, cause the spine to bend some as well. Anyway, they made some adjustments to some of the padding on her brace to correct the lower spine that is now curving more.

All-in-all the results are great. No talk of surgery. Kynadi may need to wear a brace for years and years while she is still growing, but I'll take that over surgery any day. Again being at Primary Children's helps me realize how blessed we are. People sometimes act like Kynadi's scoliosis is a huge trial and are sorry for us. Which it can be a trial to get Kynadi to wear a brace, and potty training was/and is much more difficult to be dealing with the brace every time the need to use the bathroom arises, but it is nothing in comparison to those little children we see that are soo fragile and sick. I feel very blessed to only have to deal with Scoliosis and a brace. If you're ever feeling sorry for yourself for the small challenges in life visit a children's hospital and it puts life in perspective. What wonderful spirits are there!

Too much fun

I must be a great Mom and have so much fun with my kids they are exhausted and can't stay awake for all the fun, just take a look:






Yep...slow again but here is Easter

Easter was a bit relaxed this year. No huge Easter egg hunts like in Utah where the kids were lucky to get anything. We only knew of one Easter egg hunt here and it was at the convalesent Center. They only gave out taffy, but Kynadi was just happy to get an egg this year. So that was fun. Kelsey, was with us on Easter morning and I'm mostly posting this so Mindy can see the pics we took with her. Kynadi loved having Kelsey there to play with and we're excited she's coming to visit again in a week! Yipee. Anyway, here are some of the Easter pics.




Morgan's Birthday

This is a late entry...as most of mine are. I just wanted Morgan to see the pics I took. She came to visit a few days before her Birthday so while she was here we had a little surprise birthday party. Joe's family came, which always made it more fun than just having Me, Mom, Morgan and the girls and Boston. So here are some of the pics.






Brooklyn Walks

This is another entry mostly for my memory. Brooklyn has just started taking multiple steps. She is getting so big. It seems like it has been just this week that she took steps at all and now today she has been trying to walk a ton. She only takes 4-5 steps most of the time, but she is becoming more steady and trys it a lot more.

What about Brooklyn Bowling...here she is



Bowling

John and I went bowling one weekend together, while the girls stayed home with a babysitter (the first one EVER at our own house, excluding Grandma) Well, we had soo much fun we decided we better take the kids. So a few weeks later we all went bowling together...with Grandma of course. Kynadi seemed to have a pretty good time. I was the overall winner of course, and now that I think of it, I actually think John still owes me dinner for that! Anyway here's a little video.

What happens when left alone with big sister...

I was busy talking on the phone in the kitchen one day, and obviously not paying too much attention to the girls playing in the living room. When I got off the phone I went in and discovered Brooklyn had been attacked by the sticker monster (AKA Kynadi). I thought this was so funny. Kynadi was so proud of her creation and Brooklyn was oblivious to the fact that she had a page of stickers plastered to her head. The best part is she had to keep them in until bathtime that night when I could pull them off without hurting her too bad. Needless to say, Kynadi was told, between laughs, that we are not to put stickers on our sister anymore.