Greetings and a Reminder:
I write this blog as we go through ET Mehta Casting with our daughter Olivia. The blog is intended to inform, possibly inspire, and raise awareness of Infantile Scoliosis and its treatment/cure. Please share our story. For more information please check out http://www.infantilescoliosis.org/
As promised here are some pictures of Olivia's current cast. Let's start by going back in time shall we? Here are some pictures of Olivia's first cast.
Her second cast...
And her current cast...
Before Trimming
After Trimming and Taping
It may look like she's standing on an angle in that last picture, but the cast actually is sloping up there. I did not see this yesterday, or I would have asked for that to have been trimmed as well. We'll see how it all turns out. I will just be keeping a close eye on her skin for now. Here are some pictures of us enjoying A Charlie Brown Christmas. Have a good night!
Hi, my name is Margie, I have a 12 month old son named Anthony-Wayne, he was diagnossed at birth with congenital scoliosis and multiple contingent rib and spine malformations, i see in your pics that Olivias cast is around her ribs, does the ribs have alot to do with casting? Becouse my boy has some ribs but not all, i need all the info I can before deciding on casting him! Also does it affect the bellys? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi there Margie! I'm not an expert at all with congenital scoliosis, because usually congenital scoliosis is accompanied by other problems, in Anthony-Wayne's case the rib and spine malformations. In Olivia's case, and other idiopathic cases like hers, the ribs are involved because the spinal curvature is almost always accompanied with a rotation of the ribs. This was how we caught Olivia's scoliosis. We noticed that her ribs were concave on one side and convex on the other. The cast strives to correct this along with the curve and is specially designed to allow for gentle realignment with minimal chest deformities (hence the hole in the back and the mushroom cut out in the front). The mushroom cut front also allows for their little bellies to breath and expand when they eat and breath etc. I'm not sure if casting works for children in Anthony-Wayne's condition or if he would be a better candidate for VEPTR which stands for Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib. I would say to definitely investigate both avenues with a qualified doctor. The other thing I would suggest is definitely email your questions and concerns to Heather Hyatt Montoya the founder of the Infantile Scoliosis Outreach Program. She knows much more about this than I do and would be able to guide you in the right direction. You can contact her through their website at www.infantilescoliosis.org. I hope this helps. Please let me know how things work out with Anthony-Wayne! :-)
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