Marissa's First Cast

[Guest guest]

Hope all is well with everyone. We returned back from Erie this week with Marissa's first cast. Other than the flight cancellations, the trip went very well. As you all coached me, the team at Shriner's did a fantastic job with everything. Marissa actually continued her improvement while in a brace as her out of brace curve fell to 40 from 46 three weeks ago. We actually left her out of the brace the day before so she could travel brace free. Also, her top curve is cured. Dr. said the there is no rotation at all and everything looks much better than it was even three weeks ago just by looking at her back. This was great news as I always hold out hope that it may resolve. That's my one fear, that I'm overtreating my little girl. However, I know, this is a lesser evil than not going after correction.

Her casting started at 7 and took less than an hour. She was very good with the anesthesia as she woke up even before we got there. Dr. showed us the after cast x-ray and we were very pleased. Her curve is now down to 19. He was very happy with the results. The one downer of the whole trip is that he really wouldn't suggest a timetable or prognosis on the future as he says it's very variable by child. He does think however that it'll be less than previously thought due to her very accommodating flexible spine and significant growth potential in the cast. His previous thoughts were two years.

The actual worst part for Marissa was the trimming. We needed to go back downstairs twice for trimming to fine tune the areas needed and boy did she not like this. Good thing Sue went quick. She did a great job trimming quickly. By 1 PM, Marissa was pretty much her normal self with the exception that she's still adjusting to the cast versus the brace. The cast front upper part is definitely new to her as the brace only went up to mid chest. She also over the past day or so is starting to learn that she needs to change things up a bit to do what she wants in regards to climbing etc. I do think the brace was easier for her to move, but it's early on yet and only time will tell. Diapering as you all know is altogether a challenge. So far, it's fold, tuck under, tape to shirt, pull-ups over it and pray. Two days --- no issues -- knock on wood. I've noticed that the tape we have here at home works very well in holding the diaper in place in case it comes untucked. It's a tenderskin tape that can go on skin. We tape up the front and back sides to the shirt. The hospital uses 3M Microporous, it's the same thing.

Well, we'll see how it goes and my wife and I are very grateful for everyone's help on this board. News is travelling as Dr. told me Dr. Emans is going to Erie to see this procedure and learn more about it. Bottom line is I'm sure the Harvard educated docs don't like the fact that folks are passing up their care for something else that apparantly is having some success. Just look at x-rays and that tells you the story. This is good news as hopefully someday, it'll be treated in more hospitals and regions.

Jerry

Marissa's Dad