Re: Sophia's last cast (#8)

[Guest guest]

That is FANTASTIC!

The rotation is such a HUGE factor. I'm hopeful that we may see some

improvement there (this last cast allowed a significant amount of

rotation to recur) next time.

My only experience with the providence is that Dr. K recommended it

and said we should probably try to find someone local because of the

number of adjustments we would need over the years. He gave us the

name of someone, but that person had only made a handful and wasn't

terribly confident. It seems every orthotists in our area does boston

and we didn't feel comfortable with that at all. So, we ended up

heading back down for another cast instead (which DID make sense to

us).

He said his guy is GREAT at Providences, though, so you'd be in good

hands if you were able to have it done there.

S

[Guest guest]

Tina,That is GREAT news! I am so happy for you guys.I'll be praying this last cast gives her a little more correction. 's last cast was the winner. He had stayed at 19-21 for 3 casts and his very last one it went down to 15. Good luck and keep us posted.Not sure about the Providence brace, but we love brace life in general!Take care,TashaMommy of twin boys- and 3 years oldFort Worth, Texas is currently in a brace-8 degrees out of brace!!tinamorris11 wrote: Hope that you are all doing great. Just got back from Birmingham this morning around 2 AM (8-9 hr drive) and missed some serious storms and tornados by 2 hrs since we got a late start- thank you God for Sophia needing some extra trimming by Will, the wonderful cast tech! This is her 8th cast in and the third with Dr. K in Birmingham (she started at 8 months old and is now almost 21 months old). We have only gotten correction with cast# 2 that Dr. Mehta did (took her curve from almost 40 degrees down to 20) and cast# 6 (that took her curve from 20 degrees down to 11). The rest of the time, they get some correction in cast (usually 8 degrees ave correction) but when the cast comes off, the curve is right back to where it was before (luckily not any worse however). She had significant rotation and that has gotten better or worse with each cast. This last one her COBB did not change, still at 11

degrees, but we got huge improvements in her rotation- it is almost gone. Her ribs look almost normal- a first! So even though her curve didn't get any better, we are still considering it a success. Dr. Khourry did one last cast to try and get her curve down a little more before moving to a brace next visit. Now that the rotation is corrected so much, we are really hoping to get a few more degrees improvement with this last cast. He is wanting to have us do a Providence brace that Sophia would wear 12 hrs at night and she will be molded for it when we go back in approx. 2 months. Are there any parents out there with kiddos that went into a Providence brace after Mehta casting? How old were they? Did they get any improvement in the brace or did it at least maintain correction? How long did they wear the brace per day and total (1 yr?)? Were they able to sleep through the night in it? Any issues or

insights? How often did you have to have it adjusted or changed out? Thanks!! Tina

[Guest guest]

Sandi,

From our experience, we did not have to return to B'ham to have

adjustments made to the brace. The adjustment period was more from a

comfort issue.

We are only returning every 6 months because Carly is not growing as

fast as she was when she was younger. She is 5 1/2 yrs old. She

has grown about 2 inches since being fitted for her brace last

June. She has not gained any weight.

We are scheduled to have a new brace made in October when we

return. Therefore, we have had one brace made in 15 months.

However, I believe the timeframe between visits and the number of

braces needed within a year depends on the age and growth of the

child. I would discuss with Dr. K and get his opinion.

Hope this helps.

Pam

>

> Pam,

>

> When she had the " adjustment period " - was it just a comfort level

for

> her or did you have to go to B'ham and get adjustments made to her

> orthosis?

>

> I keep coming back to the fact that no one here makes Providence

> braces well and Dr. Khoury is really a believer in it for the

babies.

> If the adjustments you mentioned are typical (roughly two per year,

> every 6 months) we could definitely swing that type of travel

> considering we're going down there now every 2 months. I was under

> the impression it would be much much more frequent.

>

> Can I also ask how many braces she's had to have made? Our

insurance

> only covers $2500 a year in orthotics, which we were told is less

than

> the cost of one Providence brace. We're trying to figure out if we

> need to pursue a Shriners doctor for bracing so that he's covered

or

> if we are okay with one brace per year.

>

> Thanks

> Sandi

>