What would you do?

[Guest guest]

OK so now I am second guessing myself.

I ask any of you.........what would you do in my shoes?

has been in a brace since September 2007. His curve has gone from 15 to 8 to 11 to 14 to 11 and up and down and up and down. Currently 11 degrees just a few weeks ago. So from what I see it has basically stayed the same. The brace has held his curve.

Would you let your child go completely without the brace or night time only?? He has never had a consistent pattern. It goes up and down.

There is no science to this so at what point do you just let the brace go and see what happens? Do I risk all the years and hard work we went through to just see what will happen?

Thoughts?

TashaMommy of 5 year old twin boys- and Fort Worth, Texas is treated at Texas ish Rite Hospital in Dallas, Texas. After being treated in a series of 6 casts for 14 months he is now in a brace and has been since September 2007.

EARLY Treatment does work if done properly.

You can read 's story at.... http://www.infantilescoliosis.org/stories.html

Or follow our family one day at a time......http://thefontenotslife.blogspot.com/

From: Tasha Fontenot <ryanswalk@...>infantile scoliosis treatment Sent: Sun, March 20, 2011 1:31:50 PMSubject: Re: Checking In & "School Age Brace" & Tasha

Hi ,

Good to hear from you! Are you still on bedrest?

Hope everything turns out great for Noah on his checkup. Keep me posted.

Regarding : that 11 degrees was out of brace. 's doctor really does not have a desired mark/number. And is very conservative.

Sure I'll admit it was a little frustrating, but I am fine with it for now. He has been in a brace for so long it seems kinda scary at this point to just walk away from it. We were given three choices.....continue what we were doing(14-16 hours a day), night time only or no brace.

We decided on night time. With freedom. We allow him to go brace free at least two nights a week. He seems to be fine with it.

Depending on his next check-up and xray we will push for no brace. For now we are good.

Thanks for asking!

TashaMommy of 5 year old twin boys- and Fort Worth, Texas is treated at Texas ish Rite Hospital in Dallas, Texas. After being treated in a series of 6 casts for 14 months he is now in a brace and has been since September 2007.

EARLY Treatment does work if done properly.

You can read 's story at.... http://www.infantilescoliosis.org/stories.html

Or follow our family one day at a time......http://thefontenotslife.blogspot.com/

From: Borlik <christina_borlik@...>infantile scoliosis <infantile scoliosis treatment >Sent: Sun, March 20, 2011 11:29:41 AMSubject: Checking In & "School Age Brace" & Tasha

..

Hello everyone,

I've been absent for awhile. I've been on pregnancy bedrest for the past 2 months and therefore haven't been able to sit at the computer much. I've fallen behind on many posts, but I did want to respond to a couple recent ones.

First, an update on my kiddos...Noah is still brace-free (it's been almost 1 year!) He'll have an x-ray taken locally in May and we'll ship it to SLC for his doc to review. As you may remember he did progress a bit when we had his 6 month follow-up x-ray taken in the fall. So depending on the measurement this spring...we may be back in SLC this summer for a brace.

Mariella had her 2 year check-up recently and her back is still straight. No x-ray was taken. We'll continue to monitor her. But so far so good

Baby #3 is due 5/5 and we'll be sure to have their spine checked as well : )

a - My son is in Kindergarden and may be entering 1st grade in a brace (fingers crossed though that this isn't the case.) I was so glad to read your post and hear that your daughter is doing well in school with a brace. And I too am interested as to whether or not there is a group/place for us parents of school age (non-teens) that are dealing with braces. Let me know if you find any and/or we can stay in touch via this group too for support.

Tasha - I was surprised to read that is still being braced at 11*. Is that his in-brace measurement? As you know, I'm pretty nervous that Noah too will have to be braced "long-term." Of course we'll do whatever it takes to prevent/postpone surgery, but how frustrating that our little boys are SO CLOSE to that desired under 10* mark.

Hope everyone is well.

~

Noah 5 1/2 years old - 9 months of casting, 2 1/2 years of bracing, Currently treatment-free at 13*

And Mariella - 2 years old, Resolved Infantile Scoliosis

school age brace

Posted by: "ericazvt" mczim4@... ericazvt

Sat Mar 19, 2011 10:33 am (PDT)

I don't have much experience to offer yet, but I can say that about one month in to brace wearing, my first grader is doing fine with the social aspect of it. I imagine it will get much harder in coming years when being different will be tougher and tougher. At the same time, I agree that having a difference can instill toughness and confidence. Nadia even announced today that she'd forgetten already about getting a sticker for each day (worn proudly right on the brace) - that all she cared about any more was wearing the brace (proudly). She feels like it's a challenge she has met -- "hard but good" is the phrase we tend to use for challenges. I hope I'm not jinxing myself as I do whenever I write about parenting... Our goal is to avoid surgery before she's at full height. No one ever presented the goal of coming to zero. I guess that's because we were never

introduced to casting as an option when she was younger. (I did read about it but didn't pursue it - pretty naively - because of her sensory and attachment and eating and growth issues.)Two questions - are there any other school age children on this list?And - Anyone have a source for nice thin flat-seamed tshirts to wear under the brace. I found the SOFT brand and ordered a few that have been good, but they don't have enough of the "Right" colors. Thanks to those who responded when I emailed before.a in Vermontmom of Nadia 28-36 in her first brace, chiari, detethering, etc etc~