Emerson's Scoliosis Journey

Nine casts down.  I am pretty sure we are pros now! We enjoyed some cast off fun. We had an arrival time of 6am and left at 3am.  There were no delays and everything went smoothly.  Emerson really enjoyed this adorable bag that Jeanie made and gave to her.  It kept her busy while we talked to all the people prior to surgery.  We were so proud of Emerson because she is normally scared and hides when her doctor enters the room.  Today she talked to him, told him about catching her first fish, meeting Salvy, and that she was putting Trolls on her cast.  Our routine is that Craig puts on the bunny suit and is allowed to walk her into the surgery room.  She gets what we tell her is a "breathing treatment" (which is really the anesthesia) and takes a little nap while Dr. Luhmann puts her cast on.  She didn't cry AT ALL this time. While waiting for her to wake back up the doctor always comes out and answers our large amount of ques...

I am having a hard time keeping up.  This may be long. Cast #7 Cast #7 coming off Damage from cast #7 - Her first open sore from a cast Bath fun after Cast #7 Cast #8 surgery sent smoothly.  There was some concern that she had a runny nose and was sneezing but no fever, so they continued as planned.  Dr. Kelly applied it and didn’t do any x-rays because he tries to limit the x-ray exposure.  We like that but also feel a little weird not knowing.  Emerson requested mac-n-cheese and fries for lunch.  Apparently, they don’t make KC Royals duck tape but one of Em's teachers, Ms. Whitney made this awesome vinyl cutout for her and we tried to make a powder blue jersey.  Emerson loved it!  Cast #9 will be with Dr. Luhmann (our doctor) on Tuesday.  The two doctors have a little different casting techniques.  In our experience, Dr. Luhmann’s are tighter, get better correction, and are more fash...

Emerson has been in her cast for 2 weeks now and is doing great.  Dr. Luhmann got her in case curve down to 60 from 80 in her brace. He said it was a great start! We are so thankful for all the prayers and kind words.  We are also thankful for my parents who took care of Addison and Jenson and brought us dinner after a very long day. Our dogs were well cared for by Amanda and Em received some great comforting gifts from the hospital.  She was also spoiled at school with gifts and daycare as all her friends wore bibs to make her more comfortable. We are so thankful for our doctors, family, friends, coworkers, church family, teachers and daycare providers.  There truly are amazing people supporting us through this journey!

This week has been so stressful!  We are scheduled for casting surgery on Monday, however, Em is not 100%.  She has a runny nose that has led to a cough and is aggravating her asthma.  She is dependent on her breathing treatments every 3 hours at this point and could use them more often.  I am contemplating trying to get into the doctor but if she gets any steroids, cold medicine, or even Tylenol they won't do the casting because going under anesthesia is too risky. Specific Prayer List: Em gets to feeling better without meds Safe travels on Monday Dr. Luhmann can move her spine and get beneficial correction Our family can easily adjust to the changes for the casting lifestyle Thank you so much!

more casting. I know, I was shocked too. Our trip started with the fear of icy roads, however the roads were clear thanks to the road crews. Our first destination is always radiology.  Last time, 6 months ago, her in cast xray was 74. Today it was 80. They had a large number of complex cases today and our doctor was running 2 hours behind.  There was also a fire alarm which was cleared but Em was excited to see the truck and firefighters.  Dr. Luhmann didn't like that her curve had increased. It's at the point where something has to be done. He made the comment that she is just too petite for Magec rods right now. He feels like he can improve the curve with casting.  There will be 3 casts and each will be on for 8 weeks with 1 off week in between each cast.  So, another summer of casting.  Bummer. We will get more info about dates soon but we know it will be as soon as they can get it scheduled.  We definitely feel all the prayers and are c...

As we end this week I can't help but think about next week.  Tuesday we find out what the next plan is.  The way I understand it, there are 3 options that we could hear.  Surgery:   Dr. L has mentioned 2 types of surgeries to us:  Shilla and Magec.  Magec is the one he mentioned at our last appointment and sent information home with us about it, so I feel like that is the one he was leaning towards.   Keep Bracing:   I feel like there is a small possibility that he will say her spine is not pushing on her lungs and we can wait longer.  I only think this because she has grown taller and we have not had any lung/pneumonia problems for over a year (yes I just knocked on wood because the flu going around has me terrified).   Casting:   We didn't feel like he was pleased with the progress from the last casting series.  The number of times she has had anesthesia (7 so far) can also be a concern because the mo...

Emerson:  Why I wear a brace? Mommy:  Because God made you special. Emerson:  Who God? Mommy:  He made all of us.  That's who we pray to. Emerson:  Thinking Mommy:  One day you won't have to wear a brace.  One day the doctor will do a surgery to help your back and then you won't have to wear a brace. Emerson:  What surgery? Mommy:  Dr. Luhmann is going to put a bar in your back to make it straighter. Emerson:  What a bar? Mommy:  Like a stick. Emerson:  I no like that. Me neither.  And as we get closer to the possibility of surgery it is starting to sink in that we have to trust someone to take our baby and make a huge cut in her back and then add hardware to her small spine.  And this won't be the only surgery.  I am going to go back to praying to that God guy now...