News

At our last Curvy Girl meeting the Columbus Dispatch was there to take pictures and interview our leaders, Alyse and Kiki.  Allie was also interviewed. the article is due to be published in the September 24 edition of the paper.

On October 9, Curvy Girls will be participating in a health fair at Worthington Park Elementary school. They will be doing their first fund-raiser and will be selling friendship bracelets made available through the Threads of Hope mission. The bracelets are made by Filipino women and children. The Curvy Girl fund-raiser will not only support the efforts in scoliosis awareness, but a portion of the sales will go back to Threads of Hope to further support the mission. we are very excited about this opportunity.

Determination

Allie has always been an independent and determined girl. Before she was 4 months old, she was determined that she was going to sit up. One day she managed to throw herself forward in her bouncy seat to a sitting position.

Last week she pulled out that determination. The first two weeks of school were rough. She was physically hurting. But also she had some concerns about what others were thinking of her. Over the long Labor Day weekend, something changed. On Monday evening as we talked about the schedule plans for the week Allies said that she would go a part day on Tuesday, but the rest of the week she was going full days. And that is exactly what she did! She did say that there were times when she felt that she should call us to come home. But that determined spirit took over and she stayed the full day.

The pictures below are another Before and After look. The picture on the right was taken on August 17, 2012, at Mandi and Josh's wedding. The picture on the left was taken just a couple of weeks ago.

Back to School!

The first week of 8th grade is now history! Allie did ok, making it about 5 hours the first 3 days. We are trying to figure out that balance of what she can and can't do as far as carrying things. By Thursday, she was getting sore, particularly the right shoulder. So, she'll get some rest this weekend and try it again next week. The staff at school are very supportive and her friends have been great so far!

Allie also had another follow-up this past Monday and Jill, the APN, is very please with her progress. Allie can carry up to five pounds. The big activity is walking, but she can go into a pool as long as she doesn't swim. If she wants to ride a stationary bike she has to wait until October or November. It is all slow but steady progress!

Follow-up appointment

Today was a follow-up appointment from last week of the fluid collection. I am happy to report that it is now completely gone and Dr. Beebe is very pleased with Allie's progress.

Many have asked questions about the instrumentation and whether she will have physical therapy. Dr. Beebe laughed at us when we asked if he stopped at the hardware store and picked up some rebar and deck screws. This picture is from the Medtronics website and I assume this is what is in Allie's back now.






As for physical activity, she is still very limited. She is not allowed to lift anything and cannot even do arm exercises/strength training for her shoulders and upper back. Dr. Beebe explained that in order to access her spine he had to cut through the trapezius muscle. It was then sewn back together. This will take time to heal. Allie will have to be cautious that she isn't straining this muscle and causing separation before it is completely healed.


Her incision (which is pretty much the length of her back) looks great but it still has some scabs on it. She will not be able to go in a pool or even have her back to the shower until the scabs are gone. Once the scabs are gone, she will still have to wait until Dr. Beebe clears her to do any type of swimming--she will be able to get in the water but will be limited to what she does with her arms and upper body.

School starts 4 weeks from today. She has a note to go back for part days--she may not need it. She will not be in gym class until Dr. Beebe clears it. She cannot carry her books and will be excused from her classes early (with a friend who will carry her books) to navigate the hall with the least amount of being run into. Hmm, I wonder if she will have any volunteers to help her...

Straight Ahead!

Allie is doing fantastic! Last Monday, less than a week after surgery, she took herself off the prescription pain meds. Thursday seemed to be a turning point. She started eating better. Friday night she started getting better sleep. She went to LifeGroup Friday night and got to spend time with her friends. She went to church Sunday morning.

Yesterday was her first post-op visit with Dr. Beebe and his nurse practitioner, Jill. The bandages came off and the wound looks fairly good. There is a collection of fluid (seroma) in the soft tissue. This is slowly draining. Dr. Beebe said that if it does not improve by next Monday she may have to have a drain placed. We are praying that the fluid will either spontaneously drained or be reabsorbed by her body.

She also had another x-ray taken. Pre-surgery her curves measured 50 degrees on the thoracic/upper curve and 60 degrees on the thoracolumbar/lower curve. We were told to expect no more than 50% reduction--so after surgery we might see 25 and 30 degrees respectively. Here is what she looks like now.

The thoracic/upper curve measures about 20 degrees and the thoracolumbar/lower curve is now around 13 degrees.

Before and After

One of the benefits of having this surgery is some additional height. We have not officially measured Allie but here are some before and after pictures.

BEFORE BEING TAKEN BACK INTO THE PRE-OP AREA

JUST BEFORE WE LEFT THE HOSPITAL

We are home now!

Shortly before noon yesterday we had all of our discharge paperwork and were ready to go home. It was an afternoon of trial and error--trying to figure out the most basic things. We had a Goldilocks night--but I don't think she even found her "just right" so we didn't get much sleep. But, like I said, it was all trial and error and I went out today to get a few things that might help us tonight.

Allie is much more mobile today. She is moving around a lot on her own really only needing help when going to sit down, lay down or getting up from these positions. She is doing her own workaround to make it all happen for her.

Late evening, Grace and Lori came for a short visit and brought us dinner (I could really get used to other people bringing us dinner!). It has been wonderful to have such good friends and cooks take care us us these days.

A great blessing for us yesterday evening was having Kiki and Alyse, the Curvy Girl leaders, visit. It has been such a great thing to know them and to have them encourage Allie throughout all of this. They told her to be drinking plenty of fluids and, under no circumstances is she to be on a trampoline--ever.