Rigo-Cheneau update for G

[mamandcrm]

Had the next 6 month interval check-up, clinical exam only. No observable change, so no x-ray. (FYI, the clinical exam first, x-ray only if doctor deems necessary is not standard protocal but at our request.) Next appointment in 6 months. Will have an x-ray at that time. So after a full year of reduced bracewear, things still look good. We go on.

[leahdragonfly]

Hi Chris,

This is wonderful news, and I am so glad to hear G can continue with the reduced wear. I am sure she is thrilled! And good job on minimizing the x-ray exposure.

Leah will be one year post-op VBS in May, so hopefully we will have some good news to report as well.

Take care,

Gayle

[Ballet Mom]

Great news mamandcrm! :-)

[jillw]

Good news mamandcrm!

Gayle, I look forward to your post in May which should have more good news!

[mamandcrm]

Hi Jill, Gayle, and Ballet Mom, thanks.

Jill, how is your daughter doing? Is she 11 now? Gayle, I look forward to hearing about Leah's recheck! It seems like we are all starting to get to the scary age when they really start growing and all heck can break loose (and I suppose there are other reasons it's the scary age too )

[MJB]

That is so great!!! I wish that Halle did as well with the Cheneau Brace.

[Resilience]

Congratulations mamandcrm and G!

[mamandcrm]

Hi All. G just had a new x-ray (it's been a year), and her curve is measuring at 10*. She has continued to wear the Rigo-Cheneau brace 10-12 hours a night. I don't keep close track of her height but she grew over an inch just in the last 3 months. She'll have a clinical exam again in 6 months, and we'll only do an x-ray then if it looks like there is change. She is so straight now, it would be easy to see.

[Pooka1]

Wow that is great news! Fabulous.

JIS certainly appears to respond to bracing. That's what Dr. Hey said in the one blog entry. I wish they would study that more to rule out spontaneous improvement. I wonder if anyone has ever seen a 35* JIS curve spontaneously improve. If not then the brace was effective.

Congratulations.

[leahdragonfly]

Hi Chris,

Congratulations on more wonderful news! I am sure you are all thrilled.

Leah will turn 10 in January and she has been growing like crazy the last 6 months (2-3 inches during that time). So far, so good...her next x-ray is May 2012.

Thanks for sharing the good news,

[jillw]

Wonderful news! Thanks for sharing.

[Resilience]

Such wonderful news! So happy for you and your daughter!

[mamandcrm]

Thanks, all. I feel like she now has made it safely through the growing rods minefield, and we go on now to adolesence and whatever that will bring. Our next hope is to get her safely to maturity without needing any surgery or full-time bracing. She has been a star throughout this whole process. It has been so valuable to me to be able to have this time where the pressure and worry has lifted, to be able to educate myself without the panic I felt at the beginning over 3 years ago.

[TAMZTOM]

Thanks, all. I feel like she now has made it safely through the growing rods minefield, and we go on now to adolesence and whatever that will bring. Our next hope is to get her safely to maturity without needing any surgery or full-time bracing. She has been a star throughout this whole process. It has been so valuable to me to be able to have this time where the pressure and worry has lifted, to be able to educate myself without the panic I felt at the beginning over 3 years ago.

I feel your deserved pride, your daughter is a star. Inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

[mamandcrm]

For those of you who are are in the early onset JIS world, my daughter is almost 13 and while she is not at maturity yet, it appears bracing has been a success for her. Her 35* curve at age 7 has held under 15* out of brace for almost 6 years, with one 16-month stint of full-time bracing at age 7-8, and the remaining years night-time only. She is now post-menarchal, has shot up significantly in the last year, and in her doctors opinion probably through her most intense period of growth, and on her last brace (which we just picked up). Bracing has always been OK for her, not presenting any physical or emotional problems. So that's the report, and I won't appear again except to modify my signature when she is done with her treatment.