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!