What would you do?

[gcs]

We are now in the wait and watch mode for my daughter's condition. Her curve is in the high teens-the doctor didn't tell us exactly. I recently have noticed a change visually of her back where it wasn't as noticeable before. With her appointment coming in mid Aug with our current M.D., (Dr Kruse through John Heinz) would it be wise or just confusing to have her evaluated at the Shriners in Phila.?

My daughter has already seen three doctors concerning this and I don't want to keep switching around, but I also want to do what is best. (The first doctor
seemed very uninterested--a 3 1/2 hour wait in his office for 5 minutes of his time. The second M.D. referred us to the Ped. Ortho. M.D. that we are seeing again soon.

Any thoughts would be helpful!!

[Mary Lou]

gcs...

We've been through the same thing! We have seen three different doctors for my daughter as well and we will be seeing our fourth at Shriner's of Philly on Thursday. First doctor we saw was at the Penn State Children's Hospital (Hershey Medical Center, Hershey PA) and he recommended surgery, but my daughter and I weren't comfortable with him and went for a second opinion by an Osteopathic doctor. We loved him! Only problem was he agreed with the first doctor but he wasn't affiliated with a hospital so he couldn't do the surgery. Tried a third doctor (female) at Hershey and she doesn't seem to be concerned with my daughter's Kyphosis at all. Her Kyphosis is 79* and Scoliosis 36* at last measurement, but like you, I've seen a great difference in her back recently. So, we are taking her to Philly this week to see Dr. Randal Betz. I've talked to other people who's children have had surgery done by him and his associates plus I've done all the research possible on him. We've not cancelled our appointment for Aug. 3 at Hershey, as we want to make sure we are comfortable in Philly first. At this point I can't tell you much about Shriner's in Philly, but I know it took several months to get an appointment with Dr. Betz personally, so therefore, you might want to keep the appointment you have for August and call Shriner's and start the process there. I hope this helps. Best of luck.

Mary Lou

[gcs]

Thanks MaryLou!

MaryLou,
Thanks for replying! I'll be thinking of you and your daughter on Thurs. Let me know how how made out. I appreciate the names and info you gave. This is the type of situation where as a parent, we are supposed to know what to do and who to go to, even though we have never dealt with it before! And all of these different appointments and doctors and opinions are vey overwhelming at tmes.
How is your daughter doing with all of this? May I ask how old she is? My daughter is very worried about school and the possibility of a brace. (Understandably so.) She wants me to home school her if she needs a brace. She sees the taunting another student wearing a brace goes through.
Aug 3rd, your day at Hershey will be a stressful one for us too. On top of her back problem,a chalazion, which is like a stye near the eye, only embedded deeper in the glands around the eye., hasn't gone away with compresses, antibiotics, etc. Although it is a minor procedure, it is still advised for us to have it surgically removed. The specialist said it is too large and surgery is the best bet.
I often tell my daughter she is doing a better than I would have been at her age. I am very proud of her.