spinecor

[MATJESNIC]

Amy,

You live so close to Montreal, if I were in your position I would only go there. Why go further to get fitted by chiros when you can get fitted by the inventors of the brace who are orthopedics. I am sorry you are having so much trouble. I also sent Dr. Rivard a question a while ago regarding Nicole's surgery and have not heard back from him. That is not like him. Possiblly you can find out the clinic hours and just take a ride there. Maybe someone else knows of a way to reach them.

[christine2]

Hi Amy

I felt intimidated by the french message as well, LEAVE A MESSAGE they will call you back. I received a call yesterday from an assistant (nurse?) and she scheduled me for our re check. I believe she said Dr. Rivard was out of the country for a bit (July 16?). It will be worth while for you to see them!! We are very happy and feel as though we recieved the best possible care seeing them. We drive 7 hours.

Hi Laura

Our 1st visit was 33 down to 7 degrees, follow up 1 month was 11 degrees, follow up 5 months was 5 degrees. My daughter is VERY flexable we are very fortunate!! Plus Dr. Coillard does not mess around, the brace goes on and goes on right, it seemed almost too tight at 1st but my daughter adjusted quickly and got a great correction right away.


We actually already have 3 dogs. we just had to euthanize our 14 yr old German Shep a couple weeks ago (very very sad!!!)

Christine

[Olivia'smother]

Christine - thanks for the reassurance. I did leave a message, but will call back with a more detailed one. I hate to be so overbearing and I am normally a very low key person, but this is my child and I don't mess around. I understand that they are highly in demand and may be booked, but I am praying they will see us.

Congratulations on your daughter's success!!! That is SO promising and although I realize results vary, makes me feel more confident that even without extensive studies this brace can work.

Amy

[christine2]

Hi Celia

So far so good with the beetles, I only have a small section of garden by my pool that is affected as of now. I can see where the grass roots are being chewed underground. It seems as though the Milky spore may have done it's job. They say it is effective for at least 10 years. I will treat that area in the fall with the nemetodes.( or will it work now) This forum is a wealth of information!!!!

Christine

[mpj]

Dr. Rivard, Out of Town?

Hi Amy,

I recently made an appointment with Dr. Rivard, but I do believe he said he would be out of town until around the middle of July (the 15th?). Therefore, I left a message at a number where the message was in French. I left my message in English and it did take a few days for someone to get back to me. However, I did get a response. Perhapse it would be good to e-mail again next week when he returns.

Sarah

[Celia]

Hi Celia

So far so good with the beetles, I only have a small section of garden by my pool that is affected as of now. I can see where the grass roots are being chewed underground. It seems as though the Milky spore may have done it's job. They say it is effective for at least 10 years. I will treat that area in the fall with the nemetodes.( or will it work now) This forum is a wealth of information!!!!

Not sure about the fall since we only use it in the Spring. I wonder if there is a number you can call and ask? Sorry to hear about your dog! When our dog died a few years ago I cried for days! We got our current dog a few weeks later because we couldn't cope with the loss of our first.

[Celia]

Good luck tomorrow Laura! Whenever we go for appointments in Montreal dr. Coillard always tightens the straps even more. Has anyone heard from Gerbo? I hope all is well.

[RugbyLaura]

Thanks Celia & Cheryl. I am really scared. Immy has no problems with wearing the brace but I get the impression that 7 degree correction at first fitting is not great. Also, she had a costume fitting tonight and her right shoulder blade was sticking out quite a bit. This is not something I've noticed before. Presumably she won't have any x-rays taken tomorrow?

Thanks again, will post as soon as we get back.

Laura X

[cherylplinder]

Rachel only got 7 or 8 degrees on her first fitting. I'm holding my breath for you.

[christine2]

Laura
I thought there were no x rays the 2nd visit too but I was wrong. She did have them done. That is reasuring about Cheryl's daughters initial correction. Try to stay positive (not easy!!) and let us know asap PLEASE.

[christine2]

Amy

There is no doubt in my mind that they will see you. Dr. Rivard and Coillard are truely trying to help our children, They are very caring and compasionate Drs when you meet them especially Dr. Rivard you will find, as I did, that they are not like the docs here in the states who make you feel as though you are inconviencing (sp?) them. I was able to get in to see them within 2 weeks. It is not like here where you have to wait months for an appointment.

[Sherie]

[QUOTE=RugbyLaura]Sherie, not meaning to cause offence, just feeling a little superstitious. I know you don't know the rest of us so well, but could you please wish us all good luck?

Sorry Laura,

I didn't intentionally mean to leave anyone out, honestly I seldom look at this thread anymore. Sometimes I'll see a name I recognize and just read those posts because there is too much on here for me to keep up with. My daughter hasn't been in the brace for about 6 months now because it wasn't helping, her curves were already high when we started.

Of course I wish you and all the other parents, bracing or whatever, the best of luck. This is a tough road for all of us, I'm just now really accepting the idea that my daughter's life will be altered because of this surgery, something I never imagined we would be facing a few years ago. I really, really hope the bracing works for these kids.

Take care, I hope you too have a good appointment.

[Olivia'smother]

Good News

Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive. I have felt like I was climbing the walls this past week trying to contact Montreal with no success. I know they meant well, but the people at my pediatrician's office were pushing me to get her in somewhere as soon as possible and it made me feel like I was being a bad mother just waiting.

Dr. Rivard called me this afternoon - I am so thrilled. He has been on vacation, but my email was relayed to him by Dr. Colliard and he wanted to check in with me. We discussed Olivia's situation briefly and he said she sounded like a good candidate for the brace. He also quoted me the price of the brace and visiits which was significantly less than I had anticipated. He said the office would give me a call next week to schedule. I am so relieved. I must admit that I have NEVER received a call from an American doctor on vacation! He seems like a very committed doctor from what everyone has been writing about him. We are so excited!

Thanks again for everyone's kind words and suggestions. They have been invaluable.
Amy

[gallathea]

Hi everyone:

I was just wondering if it's possible for a curve to be progressing even if it's looking stabilized in the brace. When I asked Dr. Rivard about this, he said that it would progress in the brace if it were progressing, but I'm just feeling a little unsure about that. Since they don't do out-of-brace x-rays can they know for sure? I wouldn't trade the Spinecor for the TLSO, but I guess I'm just having one of those days...

Thanks, and good luck to everyone heading up for their follow-ups!

Caroline

[Carly's Mom]

Hello Everyone.

I have not been on the forum for awhile. I took my daughter Carly for her 4 month check up with Dr. Marco and her curve got worse by 3 degrees. She is a Risser 4 so they said that can happen and that a correction may not happen but we are trying to keep the curve from getting worse. Her Othotist tightened the straps. We go back in 3 more months. We live in Ft. Worth and travel to Houston to UT and also see Miguel Gomez the orthotist.

We have been taking our daughter to a Chiropractor and giving her supplements and she swims as much as she can and does water and other floor exercises. Does anyone else know what else to do to try and keep the curve from getting worse?

Also, we have 4 SpineCor bodysuits to sell if anyone needs any. They are size S/P and M/M. She never wore them cuz they did not fit right. We bought some bodysuits at Dance4Less.com and got snaps put in the crotch. I ordered two more but they were different. I called and they said I had to put in the comment box that I wanted the ones with the white front inside panel, not tan and do not order the Stonewear brand. If you order them, order ones with the white inside panel and take them in anywhere for the snaps to be put in the crotch. My daughter prefers the front to go over lapping the bottom. These bodysuits have a lower back too. She likes them much better than the SpineCor bodysuit. They are only 13.99 also.

And I wash them on the handwash cycle and use oxyclean. And I hang it to dry. I use oxyclean on the brace too. My daughter also uses the moleskin on the bottom leg bands. We wash the bottom once a month and change the moleskin and I spot clean it each week. It costs too much to keep replacing the moleskin and plus the time to cut each piece and put it on and take it off. She could not stand the feel of the leg straps. But now she is so used to the SpineCor that she feels so good in it.