My Nicoles 7 Month Check Up

[nicoles mom]

:d :d :d
I Have Never Been So Happy. I Was Kind Of Very Unhappy With Her Having To Wear This Brace After Surgery. But My Husband And I Felt Dr. Boachie Made The Most Sense On Our Road To Find A Surgeon For My Nicole. My Nicole Had A Great 7 Month Check Up. Her Unfused Lumber Cruve Was 55 Before Surgery. 40 After Surgery. After 3 Months Of Wearing A Brace 23 Hrs She Was Holding At 40. At That 3 Month Visit He Wanted Her To Get A Lift For Her Left Shoe And Wear The Brace For 20 Hrs. A Day. Yesterday After Adding A Lift To Her Left Shoe Wearing The Brace For 20 Hrs A Day She Is Now Down To 29. So Shes 22 On Top 29 On The Bottom. Her Restrictions Were Changed A Little. He Still Doesn't Want Her To Hip Hop. No Extreme Twisting And Only Lifting 5 Lbs. She Is Aloud To Jog Now And Bend All The Way Down. She Has Been Dancing 3 Hrs A Week Ballet And Jazz. He Is Going To Allow Her To Do Some Jumps When Dancing Only. Theresa

[HIMOM]

That is wonderful. It is a roller coaster ride with us so I am happy to hear good news.

[nikyergen]

Theresa and Nicole-Congratulations. We had an 8 month check up last week. Crystal can't play basketball this year. Pretty hard for me, and I think her too, since she is a junior in high school and the doc won't let her play. But, it is for the best. She does pretty much everything else she wants. He said she could go back to lightly riding her horse as long as he was warmed up by someone else. All of her check ups to this point have been incredible. It is so good to see all of these kids getting this far in their surgery and post-surgery. It seems like yesterday I was so scared by what might happen.

Anyways, CONGRATULATIONS and enjoy being able to dance again.

God Bless You,
Nikki

[nicoles mom]

Hey Nikki
So Glad To Hear Crystal Is Doing Well. Nicoles Really Upset With Not Being Able To Hip Hop. Driving Me Crazy With Asking If She Could Try It Anyway. She Not Alot To Do Contact Sports Either She Wasn't Into Any So Thats One Good Thing. I Could Of Never Made It Through The Before And After Surgery Without This Board. We Have All Been Through Some Roller Coaster Ride. This Kids Are Amazing And The Moms On This Board Are Amazing Too.
Great To Hear From You
Theresa

[lorrie]

Hi Theresa
I'm so glad all is going well with your Nicole!! We spend so much time worrying about these young people and it's just great to hear good news: it makes you believeit all be worth it in the end.
Luv 'n hugs
Lorrie

[jc3]

hi theresa
glad to hear that your appointment went so well. It must be a little bit of relief now knowing that her curve is holding so well. Doesn't it feel good walking out of the office with such a good report?! I know for us before surgery every appointment to the dr. was not good news with the curve progressing so finally they are able to walk out of the dr's office smiling.
tell nicole to keep up the great work with her brace. Do you know how much longer she will need to wear it??
Jennifer

[nicoles mom]

Hi Lorrie
Has Genevieve Doing Hope All Is Going Well. I Drive Myself Crazy With Worrying About Her. Shes Sick And Tried Of Me Telling Her Not To Do This And That. It Really Felt Good To Walk Out Of The Doctors Office With A Good Report.
Luv 'n Hugs Back To You
Theresa

[nicoles mom]

Hi Jennifer
It Felt So Good Walking Out Of There Knowing That The Surgery And Bracing Is Finally Working I Was So Happy. Nicole Was Upset About Not Being About To Take A Hip Hop Class. Dr. Boachie Felt Their Was Too Much Twisting Involed After Explaining To Him What Hip Hop Was. But She Just Wants To Be A Normal Kid Already. Her Risser Is A 1 Now. He Says She Would Need To Wear The Brace Until She Was A 4 Or 5 So Whos Knows When That Will Be. She Grow 3/4 Of An Inch In 3 Months. She Still Has Not Started Her Period And I Think Once That Happens Her Risser Will Go Up. She Is Being Very Good With Wearing It 20 Hrs A Day. We Just Had A Fight About The Brace And Wearing It On The Airplane To Disney. Shes Worried About Beeping And Having To Take The Brace Off In Front Of Everyone. Driving Me Crazy I Told Her Not To Worry So Much. But I Know Nothing They Did Gave Me A Note Incase She Beeps With The Brace And Or The Rods And Screws. So Hopefully She Wont Beep. Other Wise Things Couldn't Be Better.
Theresa

[Lura]

Theresa,

Hi and AWESOME! Alex had his 7 mo last week and is doing great as well. Isn't is strange that we are in this place now? 7-12 months ago we were all going crazy!

Hi Nikki, I feel for Crystal, but she has already proven to be a tough cookie, so she will thrive despite the bench warming! How are you?

Hi Lorrie! Praying for you and wonderful Genevieve!

I miss our almost daily contact girls! Our kids are on the mend and we drift, stay in touch and I will work on it as well!

Lura

[nikyergen]

Lura, Crystal had to prove to be tough again this last week. We took her into the E-room because she was in a lot of pain and had blood in her urine. Guess what she had? Seven kidney stones. Yes, I said seven. She came home yesterday and is doing much better now that they are gone. She plans on school tomorrow. Now we have to take her back to her Nephrologist in Boise, ID, to get to the bottom of the kidney stones.

We will all work on keeping in touch.

Nikki

[lorrie]

Hi Nikki
Poor Crystal!! It doesn't seem fair that she had to cope with that on top of the surgery. I'm glad she's more comfortable now and I hope you get to the bottom of it soon.
Lura - delighted Alex's check went well. They're so resilient these youngsters!
Genevieve is still keeping us on our toes as you'll see from my other posts. We're just waiting for a call to take her back to be looked at some more. Ugh!!
One day, when we're all very rich, we'll have to take a Mom's Vacation together to somewhere exotic and leave all these troubles behind us for aa while!
Lorrie.

[nicoles mom]

Hey Lorrie
Sign Me Up I'm Taking Nicole To Disneyworld In 16 Days. My Mom Is Treating Her To This Wonderful Vacation. Hubby Is Staying Home Its A Girls Trip Can't Wait A Week With The Mouse And Holiday Cheer.
Nikki Hows Crystal Poor Kid Hope She Feeling Better
Lura
Glad To Hear Alex Is Still Doing So Well.

Theresa

[KRIS ATKINSON]

Nikki, it seems like when it rains it pours, doesn't it? I'm glad Crystal got throught the 7 kidney stones, and I don't envy that! Her urge to return to school is like my kids. My son, Jonathan, broke his arm Monday at wrestling practice. He is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning. After what Erica went through with her spine surgery, this seems like run-of-the-mill. Not to Jonathan, though. He is the major one who lifted Erica from laying to sitting post-surgery for the first few weeks until she could learn to get herself up to us the bathroom. He is strong and also saw her back with the bandages, etc. At 13, he is remembering that episode and wondering how surgery will be for him. I am jjust thrilled it will be at the local hospital and he will be home by noon the same day! On pain medicine, but I'm sure it will be mild compared to the Oxycodone all our troopers dealt with post-surgery. He wants to go to school Friday, although the doctor said it will depend on his recovery. Amazing, I jumped at the chance to miss school when I was young, but my boys are both trying not to miss anything so they can try for A's. Thank God for their academic prowess! Hope Crystal gets right back in there and enjoys being a teenager as usual. At least it is coming to the "indoor" time of the year, when sports is less of an issue. That is, you don't see people doing sports outside unless it's in the snow much in winter. Just avoid the basketball stuff. (Yeah, right, and she won't hear about it at school) Take care, Kris

[jc3]

hi theresa
sorry i didn't see that you replied back to me on here the other day. I don't know how i missed it. Sorry that the dr wouldn't let her take a hip hop class yet. What did he say she could do now? Were there many restrictions lifted?? Now that my nicole is a year they say that they can basically do anything, but i still am to afraid for her to do anything really.
And i saw that you guys are going to disney soon! She will have a great time and she surely deserves it!! Have fun.
Jennifer

[nikyergen]

Kris - You are so right. WHEN IT RAINS IT POORS. Don't you wish at time that God didn't think you were so strong and could handle anything he throws at you. I sure wish I didn't get it thrown at me sometimes. Keep us posted on your son's surgery. I'm praying for you all.

It's hard to keep the basketball stuff at a low at our house, since the other two girls play basketball too. Had to pick Beth up from practice Monday. Crystal wanted to watch practice for a while. She seemed to get a little down about not being able to play. This will be a tough season for her. She has played competitive basketball since she was in the 4th grade. She is allowed to shoot and stuff, but just can't get into the game. Her shooting ability is better than ever, because her balance is right on and she stands up straight now. I am going to talk to the coach about her playing ball next year. She had a varsity spot for this year, given at the end of the season last year. Maybe he will let her do light practice to just keep her skills going. I'm hoping.

My goal is to get Crystal over this other stuff and keep her healthy this year. May be the challenge of a lifetime. But, she also has to decide that she needs to take care of herself too. And, you know teenagers, they don't always do that.

'til later,
Nikki

[nicoles mom]

Hey Jennifer
Her Restriction Weren't Changed Much She Is Allow To Bend All The Way Down. And She Is Able To Jog Now. He Said No Extreme Twisting Or Contact Sports. No Gym Yet Because She Wears The Brace. She Still Has The Lumbar Cruve Which Is His Main Focus. Lifting Only 5 Lbs No Jumping. He Told Her To Eat More Hamburgers. He Wants Her To Coutuine With Pt. She Can Climb The Stairs Slowly Going Down. But When She Goes Up Her Hips Rotate Causing Pain. She Hasn't Gotton Her Strength Back Yet Because Shes Wearing The Brace 20 Hrs A Day. Her Muscles Are Weak Still And She Needs To Strengthen Them. Her Pt Has Been Great. We Only Go Once A Week Because My Insuracne Company Has Stopped Paying And We Can't Afford To Go More Than That. I'm Just So Pissed About That, In Jan I Will Get Another 30 Visit Til Then Its Once A Week. We See The Doctor Again In 3 Months.
Theresa