Just Got It :(

[wildlifehays]

Hey everybody, I am new here and I just got my boston brace last friday. I have always been very active and now with this I feel, confined. I am taking keyboarding to get a class knocked out and my back just keeps getting more sore as those four hours tick away. I dont know how to deal with it. At first it made me emotional every time I thought about it. Well I have researched and now I really think the SpineCor sounds more "fun".
I am supposed to wear it 23 hours a day but I am still getting into it. Like some of you, I am already thinking of ways to get rid of it once I'm done. I am not thinking of burning it, as I am a future conservationist/enviromentalist. My parents got me this book called Deenie, and the girl has to wear a brace.
Everyone in school is wearing tight shirts, I dont have that many but my brace really shows through my clothing. I do not know what to do, any suggestions?

[Susie*Bee]

Welcome!

Hey, wildlifehays, it's good to hear from you! I'm an older adult, and the bracing I had was after my surgery-- I wore a TLSO brace for 5 months then. Since most of my discomfort was actually from the surgery itself, rather than getting used to a brace, I'm not much help.

Best wishes to you-- and to adjusting to your new brace!

PS-- I'm curious about your name-- what's the "wildlife" part for?

[wildlifehays]

Hey!, thanks for the advise and help.

My name well, I have always, and I mean always loved animals . I felt that the wild ones just kept disapearing and dying do to human reasons, like polution, poaching and habitat loss. From the time I could walk (and draw) I have always wanted to save endangered animals (and their habitat) from extinction.It's like I've dedicated my life to it or something!!! I also love spotting animals where I live in Texas. I love pets too, I have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 10 chickens, a hamster and a little to many fish to count. So ya, I love animals and being outside, the only problem is that my boston brace is like really stiff, so I cant bend down to pick up my big fat kitty-cat Figero (he's to heavy to get on my nees, pick him up and stand up again, he's that big). Plus my chickens and other cat just dont like being pressed against my hard brace while I pick them up. Where I live in Texas the brace makes me extremely hot, and going outside where my element is, is just to uncomfortable in that humidity!!!!

[Susie*Bee]

Yep, braces are a pain, but they are important too. Can you squat down (without getting pinched by your brace) to pick up your cat? That's how I'm supposed to pick things up post-op... and it's the "proper body mechanics" way for everyone. Your animals will probably get used to the hardness. Are you in the humid part of Texas or the dry? That makes a big difference in comfort too. Neither is comfortable, of course, but blast furnace heat is more do-able than sauna...

A LONG time ago, when I was in college, I majored in wildlife management. I "retired" from all that when we had a family, but my husband is a wildlife biologist and manager of a state fish and wildlife area, which is where we live. I was excited to see you post about habitat, as that's the crux of it all. My husband and I went wildlife watching through Texas a long time ago... had to go see the chachalacas, etc. What fun! Wildlife is cool! Take care-- and I bet you'll adjust to your brace with a little more time. It's inconvenient and uncomfortable, but it may just do the the trick for helping you prevent surgery. So stick to it!

[wildlifehays]

Yeah, I can but he is pretty big, 16 lbs or so. I'm really not that strong because I'm only 12 1/2. Good thing I'm training for athletics! I'm in the humid part,(go Aggies!). It's pretty dry right now, however.
We live in South East Texas but visited south Texas in the winter of 2005. We also saw chachalacas. And oh, the green jays! How lovely and enchanted! I dreaded to see a jaguarundi or ocelot but I think I was pushing my luck! I think we visited Santa Anna State Park. Boy was it pretty. Just this past winter we whent to Big Bend, I can tell you that the drive was very long, but as soon as we got there we saw a bunch of collared peccaries. They were so cute, but some were really big! Yes I have this weird need to grow up to save the rainforest, coral reefs, poals, and way more. I got so upset when I heard that the yangzte river dolphin whent extinct. Oh, and the weirdest thing was that my preschool teachers in Kansas always used to call me Jane Goodall!
Yeah, people just don't treat the world right. It makes me so depressed to hear about it all, the poals melting, the rainforests disapearing . It makes me wish I was 25, so I could just stop it all.