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Ruth, 50 years old (s-shaped 30 degree scoliosis) with degenerative disc disease, married to Mike. Mother to two children - Son 18 and daughter 14. Both have idiopathic scoliosis. Son (T38, L29) has not needed surgery to date. Daughter (March 08 - T62, L63).
Thanks for the info, Stephanie--best of luck on Wednesday. I'll be out of email touch from the 20th until Dec. 31, but I'll look forward to hearing how it went when I get back.
Another question: did you have any trouble getting insurance to cover the VBS? Do you know if it is generally covered? I know that is not an issue at Shriners, but if you know, I would be interested.
Ruth:
I had never even heard of VBS until I came to this site, and our ortho never mentioned it--at least you knew enough to ask!
Thank you Ruth and Mary Ellen for your well wishes.
I am not 100% sure about insurance reimbursement for VBS. Cara may be able to give more info on that. Her son had the surgery at Boston Childrens Hospital. I believe there was insurance coverage involved. Cara...
Stephanie
Mom to Michela ~age 12 ~VBS @ age 9 - 12/19/07 26* to 1*
10/8/08 ~ curve is immeasurable!!
07/16/09 ~ a few degrees overcorrected... being monitored
12/28/09 ~ 14* overcorrected to the right
2/23/10 ~ 12* overcorrected
3/12/10 ~ Boston Brace at night to prevent further overcorrection. In brace corrects to -8*
Mary Ellen:
Didn't do us much good though - even though Esme would have been able to have it done when I asked, the orthopaedic doctor he failed to give us the right advice. Thank goodness we have a new doctor now!
Ruth
Ruth, 50 years old (s-shaped 30 degree scoliosis) with degenerative disc disease, married to Mike. Mother to two children - Son 18 and daughter 14. Both have idiopathic scoliosis. Son (T38, L29) has not needed surgery to date. Daughter (March 08 - T62, L63).
I have a few questions--how long does a VBS procedure take? Also, once you knew he qualified, how long was it until the actual surgery?
Hi Mary Ellen,
I'm sure Cara will be happy to answer all your questions.
But I just wanted to mention that if you, or anyone else is interested in learning more about the VBS procedure firsthand from parents whose kids have had it performed recently, you should feel free to visit the VBS support site.
It's been posted before, but here's the link in case you missed it:
Our insurance company is Harvard Pilgrim (we are in Mass) & the doctors at Boston Children's Hospital handled all of the insurance claims. They were able to get it covered in full (except our $500 in-patient deductible). It sounds like more & more insurance companies are covering the surgery (Blue Cross, Aetna, and HP to name a few). If our insurance company had denied coverage, we would have brought Nate to the Philadelphia Shriners, but it was great that we could do it closer to home. We had a wonderful experience at Boston Children's Hospital, I was very pleased with the high quality of care Nathan received.
Nate's actual surgery took about 3 hours, but he went into the OR at 7:40, we saw the doctor's at 2ish and saw Nathan at 3:00 ( a lot of time for anesthesia, and preparation, then he took a little longer than usual to wake up)
-Cara
Last edited by nate03; 12-17-2007, 03:42 PM.
Reason: Additional Info
Cara, Mom to Nathan
Diagnosed 24 deg. in July 2007, progressed to 38 deg. by August 2007
Boston Back Brace 8/07 – 12/07
VBS 12/10/07 Boston Children's Hospital
Dr. Hresko
40 Degrees before VBS
11 Degrees now!! (2012)
Hi-
I thought I would share Nate's x-rays with those of you who may be interested. We are very pleased with the initial correction! 38 degrees to 19 degrees.
-Cara
Cara, Mom to Nathan
Diagnosed 24 deg. in July 2007, progressed to 38 deg. by August 2007
Boston Back Brace 8/07 – 12/07
VBS 12/10/07 Boston Children's Hospital
Dr. Hresko
40 Degrees before VBS
11 Degrees now!! (2012)
Michela is home and doing well. The doctor is very happy with the results. She is doing great. I thought she would be in more pain but she seems to be fine with Motrin. We got home on Saturday. Thank you to everybody for your thoughts and prayers
Cara, Nathan's x ray looks great. I saw Michela's post op x ray. It was perfectly straight. I cried when I saw it. Dr Asghar did remind me that once she is up and about there can be some "settling" so it's the 6 week post op x ray that they go by. So Glad things went well for us!!
Merry Christmas, Happy Haunukah, and Happy New Year to everybody!!
Hugs,
Stephanie
Mom to Michela ~age 12 ~VBS @ age 9 - 12/19/07 26* to 1*
10/8/08 ~ curve is immeasurable!!
07/16/09 ~ a few degrees overcorrected... being monitored
12/28/09 ~ 14* overcorrected to the right
2/23/10 ~ 12* overcorrected
3/12/10 ~ Boston Brace at night to prevent further overcorrection. In brace corrects to -8*
Hi-
I wanted to let you know that Nathan's official correction is 25 degrees (from 40 degrees the day of surgery). We are very pleased and optimistic that the staples will hold Nathan's curve in this range.
Nathan has returned to all of his activities - NO restrictions. He has played full contact Pee Wee Hockey, and was in the snowboard park all weekend. He is SO happy to be free of his back brace, and able to do all of the things he loves to do!
If anyone has any questions about our experience with stapling at Boston Children's Hospital, please feel free to contact me anytime (508) 375-0621. I have been very pleased with Dr. Hresko and the whole team at Children's really worked hard to make Nathan's experience as positive as possible.
-Cara
Cara, Mom to Nathan
Diagnosed 24 deg. in July 2007, progressed to 38 deg. by August 2007
Boston Back Brace 8/07 – 12/07
VBS 12/10/07 Boston Children's Hospital
Dr. Hresko
40 Degrees before VBS
11 Degrees now!! (2012)
He is doing really well & back to his same old self - SO happy to be rid of the brace!
-Cara
Cara, Mom to Nathan
Diagnosed 24 deg. in July 2007, progressed to 38 deg. by August 2007
Boston Back Brace 8/07 – 12/07
VBS 12/10/07 Boston Children's Hospital
Dr. Hresko
40 Degrees before VBS
11 Degrees now!! (2012)
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