spinecor

[2kids]

The appointment with dr. moreau was great,we stay in his office over an hour. three of us gave blood,he promised to send the blood test results as soon as they were available. he said his research is looking for a drug to treat scoliosis,the result was expected to be available in late 2008, i feel it is pretty promising.

Elaine

Elaine,
Glad to hear your trip to Montreal was sucessful!
In what area does Dr. Moreau specialize? Is he at the same hospital as Drs. Rivard and Coillard? What are the blood tests for?

Thanks!

[jillw]

Elaine, I know I have read that some people's lumbar curve has increased - but as you can see in my signature, my daughter's lumbar initially increased in the spinecor, but then came down after that (and hopefully will stay down!). The thoracic curve looks good! Yuck on the used thigh band. Katie's only been in spinecor for 1 1/2 months and already her thigh band is something that nobody else would want to wear! It will be interesting to hear what the blood tests reveal. Do you have any other children? Did he want to take their blood?

Cheryl, Happy Belated Birthday! I'm sorry to hear about your mothers troubles but am glad that a change in medicine has improved things. Hang in there!

Jill

[WNCmom]

Elaine--

What wonderful news! It's very exciting to hear about the reduction in your daughter's curve--and thanks for the report on the Montreal docs. Are you telling us that the doc who fitted the brace only gave you one thigh band?

[cherylplinder]

Elaine,
I am so happy for your results at your last visit. That's wonderful and so encouraging!
Congratulations!

[Celia]

I met the mayor!

I have to share the funniest story that just happened to me! I was walking along the neighbourhood with my dog and I normally pack one bag for her because she normally just has one bowel movement during our walks. Like clockwork she does her business at her usual spot and I used my one and only bag. A couple of blocks later she has another bowel movement and this time it's right in front of a quaint boutique and this is substantial!!! What did she eat? Embarrassed, I open the shop door and call out to the shopkeeper "Could you please give me a plastic bag because my dog has just pooed in front of your store!" The shop keeper who was chatting with her sole customer and his back turned away so I couldn't see who he was, handed the man the plastic bag and he walked over and I immediately recognized him as the mayor of the city!!!! With a huge grin, he hands me the bag and says " I'm very happy to see you're doing your part to keep our fair city clean Miss" He called me Miss!!!! He's got my vote! The shop keeper gushes "You know it's such an honour to get a bag from this man" I laughed and said "Yes, thank you very much Mr. Miller" I bent over to pick up the poop as he watched on. I think he was observing my shapely butt and I did see a twinkle in his eye I looked over embarrassed as hell poop in hand and walked on....

[qiling]

Thanks for all.

Mary Ellen- yes ,we had only one thigh band from Dr. Deuchmen .

2kids- if you check on my 2 weeks old post, you will find Dr.Moreau's information.Dr.Rivard is a member of this team also.

Jill- I have a son Christopher 16yrs old, he did not enroll in the study. Dr.Moreau mentioned about twins, but anyway he expects to have blood work down in every 6 month when Jennifer still in brace.

Ruth -- thank you for post the link 'Norther Calfornia Neurosurgery ' the doctor office is 5 minuets from my house.

Elaine

[christine2]

Hi Cheryl

I did not realize your mom was sick. My mother also has dementia. I have spent the last year trying to get a diognosis for her, thinking the worst (progressive) She has this jack*** for a primary care doc that did not pick up strokes on my mothers mri!! Finally a therapist picked it up. Thankfully her condition is non progressive. I just need to watch her blood presure and continue therapy and we will be OK for now. Her memory loss is moderate (no driving ect..) but she is happy. I just want you to know that I can relate to what you are dealing with.

[cherylplinder]

Christine,
When this all started with my mom, I thought it might be strokes, but MRI's ruled that out. Her condition is a progressive dementia, but I am so grateful that she is still with me. It's strange, we've always done a lot together, but I thought we had 20 more years of togetherness so the last several years have been extra precious to me.
I'm so glad your mom's condition is not progressive! There's nothing like your mom.
Thanks for the empathy.
Cheryl

[rtremb]

We had our appointment with Dr. Rivard and Dr. Colliard as planned and for us it was good news - Esme's curves have not progressed. She has had no progression now for three and a half months and we are very pleased with that. I know that might sound strange since we would hope for curve reduction but maintaining the curves where they are now is a huge relief to us especially since she progressed at least 10 degrees between December 06 and early August 07.

Dr. Rivard told us today that the Boston brace will not work for larger structural thoracic curves like Esme's because it won't work higher than T8 but the Spinecor can address higher than T8 because it is up around the shoulders. This was very encouraging to us.

We still hope if Esme has a growth spurt that the Spinecor will hold her where she is or perhaps even give reduction as she grows taller. I think everyone is different but her brother's curves did reduce when he suddenly grew taller.

Dr. Rivard was supportive of the Structural Integration (Rolfing)/ fascia work - especially for the management of pain. He also supported Yoga. We explained Esme did not want to do ballet as he had suggested but that she would rather do the yoga, climb trees and do her Rubik's speed cubing (best time so far 25 seconds). He was okay with that.

Ruth

[MATJESNIC]

Ruth,

I agree with you that no news is good news. I am very happy that Esme didn't progress. Please don't worry about her not doing ballet. Ballet is not going to determine whether she progresses or not. Nicole has been dancing ballet since age 3. She danced the two years that she had scoliosis. Obviously it didn't help her. Just keeping doing what you are doing. You are doing everything humanly possible to avoid surgery. Keep up the good work.

[WNCmom]

Ruth, I'm so glad to hear there's been no progression in Esme's curve. I have been thinking of you all week.

Sidney had an MFR session with the therapist (Liz) yesterday and Liz was anxious to hear the results of our brace checkup last week. When I told her there had been no progression, she said that actually was an excellent outcome, since, from her perspective, there doesn't need to be growth for a curve to progress or "collapse," as she put it. I just pass this along as a little extra validation for what you are doing.

Mary Ellen

P.S. Thanks for the info on how Spinecor works on thoracic curves.

[Sherie]

Ruth

That's good news. I think you're doing a great job. I had thought about trying out rolfing, but I had already put Sheena through so much by that time and her curves were quite advanced. I truly hope this works for Esme.

Take care

[Celia]

Ruth,

There is no quick fix to this condition and people who believe that surgery should be the first line of treatment are seriously deluding themselves. Complications from surgery even though immediately not evident but manifests later on can be pretty nasty especially when it involves the vertebrae and is so close to the spinal cord. Surgery should always be a last resort after all other treatments have been exhausted - at least that's my philosophy. I'm sure whatever you are doing is having a positive effect on Esme's curves even though the changes are not immediately evident. The news is encouraging! You're doing a great job!!!!

Did you ask dr. Rivard anything more on the fusionless surgery they are investigating in Europe?

[cherylplinder]

Ruth,
I am so happy for your good report!
I almost checked the board in the middle of the night to see if you had posted! I should have, I see you posted right after midnight!

[cherylplinder]

What happens structurally when a curve collapses as opposed to increasing because of uneven growth?

I'll be really surprised if Rachel's curve is worse at our checkup next week. She looks better to me.