Friday, January 25, 2013

Houston, we have a problem!


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/ 

Well, I tried to be very optimistic about cast number 4 and have been telling myself that it's fine, and I'm just being an overly worried mom. It all came to a head last night and I decided that I better bring her in to have it checked. It was just too tight around her middle. Last night her stomach was very red and swollen and she cried when you touched it. We iced it and hoped. It was just as bad the next morning so I decided to call. 

The triage nurse agreed with my concerns and told me to bring Olivia in. She also confirmed it with Dr. G's nurse, informed me that Dr. G was there and to bring her in when I could. At this point I was already at work without a substitute teacher in place. My students' parents are absolutely amazing. One of them who is on the sub list came in to take my class for me. I whipped some plans together and I was on my way.

I picked up Olivia and up to Boston we went. When we got there we sat for a few minutes and they were taken to the cast room to look at the cast and her stomach. Dr. G also came in and expressed his concerns with the skin irritation. As he has said her skin has always been a concern because she is so fair. He was impressed that she had made it this long without any skin issues. 



In the end Dr. G had the cast tech split the cast at the waist point to allow the cast to give there. He said that we will have to watch to make sure the cast doesn't become too loose. If that happens then we will go back and they will add a new layer of fiber glass to that area. Hopefully this will work. 






We'll also be putting on a thin layer of hydrocortisone ointment to the skin there to help it heal. I'm just glad we didn't have to replace the whole cast! Olivia seems to be in much better spirits now so fingers crossed. :-) She also had a nice time visiting Miss Kathleen, who is a dear friend of mine who works at the hospital. Whenever we enter the hospital now the first thing out of Olivia's mouth is "Kathleen!" Ha!





3 comments:

  1. How is the cast going? Has her skin improved?

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    1. Hi!

      Yes, things are going very well! To prevent the cast from becoming too loose I did a duct tape band around it to hold it in place. This seems to be working. How are things going with your girl?

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    2. Things are going much better here since they cut off the straps. It is weird how different things are done at each hospital like the petaling is completely different and I don't like how they cut her shirt at the neck in half (did they do this to you too?) but we just used a ton of tape. We get the next cast on 3/25 and hopefully it will be her last :)

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