I forgot to update after Arianna's orthopedic appointment. We were going in for her routine scoliosis check-up. Walked in, got her x-ray done and then waited for the doctor to come in. He walked in with a surprising look on his face and said....
"Well I have no idea how this happened but she went from a 15 degree curve to a 5 degree curve."
I knew exactly how that happened. :) For months I've been praying for her spine to straighten out and it happened! God is so good! We have experienced yet another miracle in our daughters life.
We don't have to go back for another year! Praise God!
Now we are STILL waiting for Hanger to make her new orthotic inserts for her shoes and I'm getting really ticked off at them. Arianna is outgrowing her shoes and having alot more foot/knee pain and it's been almost a month since our appointment with them. They are making her custom inserts that are a little bigger than what she's used to but will be more supportive.
I have to run and make dinner but I wanted to update while I had a few minutes.
Showing posts with label orthopedic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label orthopedic. Show all posts
Friday, June 4, 2010
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Ortho appointment today
First of all...it's 1:40 am so if this post doesn't make sense...sorry
Today we went to Arianna's orthopedic appointment.
First we did the x-ray and then played Candyland for about 10 minutes before the doctor came in.
He looked her over and said he can barely tell by looking at her that she has a curve. He seemed very laid back.
Then he tells me she hasn't changed and still has an 18 degree curve. I quickly reminded him that her curve was only 10 degrees 6 months ago. Man this doctor irritates me!!!
At this point she is in no risk but if she gets over 20 degrees he wants to put her in a brace. :( At this rate he expects her to be over 20 degrees in about year.
He mentioned it's possible she won't get worse but didn't sound very sure about that.
Then the Hanger guy came in and checked on her orthotic inserts and her feet and said they look perfect!
For now we enjoy the next 6 months and will worry about the brace at our next appointment.
Sorry for being so short and to the point...I'm exhausted and have to be up early for feeding therapy. Speaking of which, Arianna finally weighs 26 pounds!!! We have been working on that for 6 months. :) Her height is 36 inches, which is a 3 inch growth over the past few months. I'm so proud of her growth!
Okay....good night~
Today we went to Arianna's orthopedic appointment.
First we did the x-ray and then played Candyland for about 10 minutes before the doctor came in.
He looked her over and said he can barely tell by looking at her that she has a curve. He seemed very laid back.
Then he tells me she hasn't changed and still has an 18 degree curve. I quickly reminded him that her curve was only 10 degrees 6 months ago. Man this doctor irritates me!!!
At this point she is in no risk but if she gets over 20 degrees he wants to put her in a brace. :( At this rate he expects her to be over 20 degrees in about year.
He mentioned it's possible she won't get worse but didn't sound very sure about that.
Then the Hanger guy came in and checked on her orthotic inserts and her feet and said they look perfect!
For now we enjoy the next 6 months and will worry about the brace at our next appointment.
Sorry for being so short and to the point...I'm exhausted and have to be up early for feeding therapy. Speaking of which, Arianna finally weighs 26 pounds!!! We have been working on that for 6 months. :) Her height is 36 inches, which is a 3 inch growth over the past few months. I'm so proud of her growth!
Okay....good night~
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Good news!
We went to see Arianna's orthopedist first this afternoon and he was surprised to see her back so soon. I gave him the run down of what's been going on and within a minute we had like 5 people in our room plus 4 more standing outside the doorway. He was twisting her legs in all these positions that looked really painful but she didn't even care. He made comments about how weird her legs were and that bothered me. He could of kept those comments to himself. He keep going on and on about it telling everyone how weird it is that she bends like this, etc, etc. I wanted to tell him to shut up....but I didn't.
His verdict is that she only needs inserts for her shoes to help with the pronation and flat feet. He believes the knee pain is coming from all these things combined. The x-rays of her knees looked good, but I won't believe that until I get the report myself which I forgot to get today. Darn it! The man from Hanger came in and talked to us quickly and said her inserts will be ready in a few days. :) Hopefully this will give her some relief.
Then the orthopedist said something that really upset me. He was looking at Arianna and said, "She definitely will need surgery of some kind I'm just not sure what kind though." I asked what he meant. Was it because of her scoliosis because I know that is a possibility but later down the road. He said "No, for either her back or knees but I'm not sure which." He then said her knee exam looks normal. Okay...isn't that a little contradicting? I don't know what to think. I guess I'll be getting his report as well to see if he comments more about this in his report.
After that appointment we went upstairs to see Arianna's primary care doctor. I explained what was said at the ortho appointment and she was also confused about the surgery comment. She is going to look over the report when it's transcribed to see if there is something else going on he is not telling us.
The blood work came back.....NORMAL!!!! I am so excited! Her bone marrow is producing red blood cells, no rheumatoid arthritis, no anemia. What a wonderful way to end our afternoon at the doctors.
His verdict is that she only needs inserts for her shoes to help with the pronation and flat feet. He believes the knee pain is coming from all these things combined. The x-rays of her knees looked good, but I won't believe that until I get the report myself which I forgot to get today. Darn it! The man from Hanger came in and talked to us quickly and said her inserts will be ready in a few days. :) Hopefully this will give her some relief.
Then the orthopedist said something that really upset me. He was looking at Arianna and said, "She definitely will need surgery of some kind I'm just not sure what kind though." I asked what he meant. Was it because of her scoliosis because I know that is a possibility but later down the road. He said "No, for either her back or knees but I'm not sure which." He then said her knee exam looks normal. Okay...isn't that a little contradicting? I don't know what to think. I guess I'll be getting his report as well to see if he comments more about this in his report.
After that appointment we went upstairs to see Arianna's primary care doctor. I explained what was said at the ortho appointment and she was also confused about the surgery comment. She is going to look over the report when it's transcribed to see if there is something else going on he is not telling us.
The blood work came back.....NORMAL!!!! I am so excited! Her bone marrow is producing red blood cells, no rheumatoid arthritis, no anemia. What a wonderful way to end our afternoon at the doctors.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Orthopedic Appointment
Yesterday was Arianna's the orthopedic appointment. Here is a picture of her being silly in the doctors office.
We had to get scoliosis x-rays before we saw the doctor. I even got a picture of them together.
This doctor has actually had several DiGeorge patients and he was very impressed to see how well Arianna was doing. He checked the x-rays and she is at a 10 degree curve for her scoliosis. He said this is nothing to worry about right now.
I did ask about her leg pains and he has a pretty good theory for this. Of course it cannot medically be proven but I'll share for any other DiGeorge families that are having the leg pains. He said since Arianna is extremely flexibe in her joints and has low muscle tone that during the day her joints are not secured in place as well as a normal child would be. Therefor they rub against each other. Then at night when she stops to rest her joint are hurting. I'm not sure if Arianna's pain is in the joints but this will be interesting to find out when she is older to explain where the pain in coming from.
Other than that we don't have to go back for 1 year. YAY! He just told me to ben her over and check her spine in about 6 months to make sure there is no bump. If there is then I need to bring her in because that would be very bad. But I know my baby girl will be just fine.
We had to get scoliosis x-rays before we saw the doctor. I even got a picture of them together.Dr. Nielsen & Arianna
This doctor has actually had several DiGeorge patients and he was very impressed to see how well Arianna was doing. He checked the x-rays and she is at a 10 degree curve for her scoliosis. He said this is nothing to worry about right now.I did ask about her leg pains and he has a pretty good theory for this. Of course it cannot medically be proven but I'll share for any other DiGeorge families that are having the leg pains. He said since Arianna is extremely flexibe in her joints and has low muscle tone that during the day her joints are not secured in place as well as a normal child would be. Therefor they rub against each other. Then at night when she stops to rest her joint are hurting. I'm not sure if Arianna's pain is in the joints but this will be interesting to find out when she is older to explain where the pain in coming from.
Other than that we don't have to go back for 1 year. YAY! He just told me to ben her over and check her spine in about 6 months to make sure there is no bump. If there is then I need to bring her in because that would be very bad. But I know my baby girl will be just fine.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
I did take Arianna in to see the orthopedic doctor on Tuesday. After he looked at her foot, ankle, and spine he felt confident that this (ankle pronation) is nothing to be concerned with "right now". I am completely fine with that news. I still need to go get her some better supportive shoes but I just LOVE her little Nike's so I haven't done that yet.
We had her speech therapy after our appointment and the first thing the ST asked what how often Arianna is allowed to use her paci. I told her all day long. She asked if there was any way to just limit that to bed time. To be honest with you I am ready to ditch the paci myself so that was all the motivation I needed. She said because of her speech delays the paci is really not going to help with her speech. So.....yesterday I didn't give her the paci ALL DAY and man was that a LONG day. She cried and cried but I didn't give in. Then this morning I let her have it while we laid in bed watching cartoons but as soon as it was time to leave the room I took it away from her. She cried for a second but that was about it. She did ask for it today but not as much. I just kept distracting her by playing with playdo (which is a new word she can say!) When it got closer to bed time she started getting fussy and I was walking to get her paci when I realized she had already fallen asleep in my arms. So looks like she doesn't need it to fall asleep so we might actually be completely done with the paci. That would be great! But we'll just see how she does the second we get in the car cause she always gets her paci in the car.
We had her speech therapy after our appointment and the first thing the ST asked what how often Arianna is allowed to use her paci. I told her all day long. She asked if there was any way to just limit that to bed time. To be honest with you I am ready to ditch the paci myself so that was all the motivation I needed. She said because of her speech delays the paci is really not going to help with her speech. So.....yesterday I didn't give her the paci ALL DAY and man was that a LONG day. She cried and cried but I didn't give in. Then this morning I let her have it while we laid in bed watching cartoons but as soon as it was time to leave the room I took it away from her. She cried for a second but that was about it. She did ask for it today but not as much. I just kept distracting her by playing with playdo (which is a new word she can say!) When it got closer to bed time she started getting fussy and I was walking to get her paci when I realized she had already fallen asleep in my arms. So looks like she doesn't need it to fall asleep so we might actually be completely done with the paci. That would be great! But we'll just see how she does the second we get in the car cause she always gets her paci in the car.
I do have to say after just two days without the paci she is eating better, saying more words and babbling more, and even sleeping better. You think there is a connection? I do!
So the past few days Arianna has become such a dare devil. She is trying to climb on everything, including the top of the couch. Here is what she discovered she could do last night.
Such determination in her eyes.. 
I haven't taken a bath picture in awhile so here one is...
You can barely even see her scar!
This afternoon my heart momma friend came over again and this time Arianna LOVED playing with the baby. "Baby" is one of her new words so she kept saying it all day. I have to tell you how nice it is to be able to hang out with another heart mom. She has been such a help with me over the past few weeks with the support group that I asked her to be my Co-Coordinator and she said YES!!! She is also putting together our website for our group and it seems to be coming together rather nicely.
Check out Arianna eye balling baby Kira's paci...
Let me have that...
Girls just hanging out watching "Yo Gabba Gabba"
Hey Isaac, what to come over and watch it with us?
I have started letting Arianna pull a chair up to the kitchen counter and help me with whatever I'm doing at the moment. She loves helping wash her cups....it's more like splashing water all of the place but she loves it. I also let her help me cook or bake...of course nothing that can hurt her. She normally does the mixing and pouring. So today I was in the kitchen and heard her drag the chair over to the counter. I turned around and she had climbed onto the chair by herself and was standing on it in the middle of the kitchen! I was so excited because I've been waiting for the day that she could get on a chair like that by herself but kind of freaked out after wards. So I pull the chair up to the counter and she starts climbing onto the chair again but this time slips and falls, but thanks to my cat like reflexes since becoming a mom I grabbed her by her arm before she hit the ground. Phew!!! I have to watch out with her now that she is climbing on everything. I've waited a long time to finally say that. :)
So here she is helping me with dinner tonight...
So now that all the nice and happy stuff is out I just have to tell you how saddened I am to hear that sweat heart buddy Colin has earned his angel wings this week. My heart just breaks when I hear of a child leaving this earth too soon. He has been loved by so many and will always be in my heart.
So I've had a very emotional week after watching a heart baby die in the hospital and finding out about Colin. It just breaks my heart that so many children have to endure so much and then loss this fight against CHD's. I am scared more today about Arianna than I have been in awhile. I have known soo many heart kids that are doing fine then all of a sudden their hearts just stop. And after the incident the other morning thinking Arianna wasn't breathing....I just feel like this is such a burden to carry every day. I have been waking up every morning since Friday just crying because I am so blessed to have another day with my daughter. I am so scared that one day I will wake up and she will not be with us. My whole world has changed since we found out about Arianna's heart and there are days that I'm happy we did and there are days that I wish I could just turn the hands of time around and never start on this road. I know am a better person today than I have ever been in my life and I owe that all to my daughter. I'm helping many families through our support group and I feel like I have a direction in life now. I may not be a scientist, a lawyer, or a doctor, I'm just a heart mom that is trying to make a difference in my local heart community.
Sorry for such a sad ending to such a wonderful post but I always feel better after posting these things on here. I just have to learn to deal with all these emotions and fears. I still find myself just trying to take it one day at a time.
I think it's time for a vacation.....maybe one day right?!?! I'm still thinking the heart mom vacation would be an awesome idea. Maybe Vegas since Kathy is already there! :)
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Orthopedic Appointment
This morning was Arianna's appointment with the orthopedic doctor. After a really nice guy took two x-rays of Arianna I was getting really nervous. The doctor came in and put the x-rays up and you can REALLY see the scoliosis in her back. I was about to freak out but he told me he doesn't think this is acurate and believes she moved when they took the x-ray. I didn't see her move but then again the slightest movement can really make a difference in x-rays. She doesn't have a significant change in her scoliosis but I asked him anyways what degree he thought it was and he said according to this x-ray, which he's doesn't feel is accurate, he would say she has a 10 degree curve. Her last x-rays showed a 1 degree curve so I hope he is right and this isn't accurate. Of course we were not going to put her through more x-rays cause she has had too many already. The second film was a side view to check for kyphosis, which is a curvature of her upper spine, and he didn't see any kyphosis on the film! YEAH! That would be really bad and require surgery if she did. I asked him about her legs and before he even examined her he said she has tibial torsion because her toes point inward. I told him my concern with her ankles so he did an exam on her legs and ankles and agreed it is tibial torsion and ankle pronation. I read that tibial torsion can correct itself by the time the child is 3 years old, but when I asked the doc today he said it can take till there 10 years old. Guess I should listen to the doc and not a report online..right? He also diagnosed her with flat feet but said she doesn't need inserts for her shoes at this time but it will probably be necessary as she gets older. We will go back in 9 months and do this all over again to see how she is doing.
I do have so many pictures I want to post but I am just way too tired to do that tonight so I'll try to do it tomorrow.
Tomorrow we take Arianna to her first birthday party!
I do have so many pictures I want to post but I am just way too tired to do that tonight so I'll try to do it tomorrow.
Tomorrow we take Arianna to her first birthday party!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Weekend
I haven't been posting much lately because I've had a bad few days and I really don't want to get into it. In the meantime, I've been spending more time with my sister and nephews which has been great. Arianna was able to go swimming and loved spending the days with her cousins.
The main reason I wanted to post was because Arianna peed in her potty for the first time today. I really had no idea how excited I would be about this. She signed 'potty' like she does after she goes pee, but we still went and sat on the potty. After 10 seconds she peed and probably thought I was a nut the way I was getting SO excited. Like last time, I gave her some ice cream and she was totally excited. What better way to get her to eat more calories! I'll be going to party city tonight to get her some little toys to keep in the bathroom and every time she successfully goes potty in the toilet I'll give her a toy. I'm really excited about this whole potty-training thing!
We're getting Robert's kids tonight so Arianna will have her brother and sister to play with this week. She is really becoming quite the little girl. The only thing Arianna has this week is Sherri (EI) coming over on Wednesday. The 31st is her appointment with the orthopedic doctor which I'm really wanting to go see him cause I just noticed this weekend how Arianna's right ankle seems to cave in a little (ankle pronation). I am hoping he can do some x-rays and make sure everything is okay. I know it's nothing major but I want it looked at. Besides that we are actually going to the mall on Tuesday with a friend of mine, which will be the first time ever Arianna has been to the mall. WHAT AM I THINKING?!?!? No, I'm actually excited to get her out and be around people a little more. We went out to dinner last night and she was totally into looking at everyone and even saying hi and waving to another toddler. Hope you all have a wonderful week. I'll post more pictures this week after I buy some batteries.
Take Care!
The main reason I wanted to post was because Arianna peed in her potty for the first time today. I really had no idea how excited I would be about this. She signed 'potty' like she does after she goes pee, but we still went and sat on the potty. After 10 seconds she peed and probably thought I was a nut the way I was getting SO excited. Like last time, I gave her some ice cream and she was totally excited. What better way to get her to eat more calories! I'll be going to party city tonight to get her some little toys to keep in the bathroom and every time she successfully goes potty in the toilet I'll give her a toy. I'm really excited about this whole potty-training thing!
We're getting Robert's kids tonight so Arianna will have her brother and sister to play with this week. She is really becoming quite the little girl. The only thing Arianna has this week is Sherri (EI) coming over on Wednesday. The 31st is her appointment with the orthopedic doctor which I'm really wanting to go see him cause I just noticed this weekend how Arianna's right ankle seems to cave in a little (ankle pronation). I am hoping he can do some x-rays and make sure everything is okay. I know it's nothing major but I want it looked at. Besides that we are actually going to the mall on Tuesday with a friend of mine, which will be the first time ever Arianna has been to the mall. WHAT AM I THINKING?!?!? No, I'm actually excited to get her out and be around people a little more. We went out to dinner last night and she was totally into looking at everyone and even saying hi and waving to another toddler. Hope you all have a wonderful week. I'll post more pictures this week after I buy some batteries.
Take Care!
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