Alexa Update

Alexa had her six week in brace appointment which included an x-ray to see how the brace was working. We've had to make a few adjustments to the brace as it was causing some discomfort and bruising. She has been doing a pretty good job of sleeping in the brace and that's where she is getting a good chunk of time in the brace. She is supposed to be at 18-23 hours a day but we are honestly more along the lines of 10-16 hours. She does good at school with keeping it on and wearing it when she is supposed to, but she is still struggling with keeping her brace a secret from her peers. She has a few close friends that know about her brace and they have been so loving and supportive. She has been seeing a chiropractor regularly to help with some of the aches and pains of wearing the brace and she's been a trooper. Her favorite adjustment is her neck!

Now for the update on her scoliosis. We went to Riley on Wednesday morning and she did an x-ray in her brace. They look at the image from November out of the brace and compare it to a new image in the brace. Here are the images to compare and then I will explain.

This is Alexa's spine OUT of the brace and this is the image they took in November.
Her lumbar curve measures roughly 26 degrees. (if you click on the image you can see it a bit better)

This is an image of Alexa's spine IN the brace and if you look closely,
you can see that the brace is pushing her lumbar curve to 13 degrees! (If you click on the image you can see it a bit better)

So...what's the update? Basically, the brace is doing what it's supposed to be doing. Here curvature hasn't gotten any worse and the brace is making sure that as she grows it will not go past that 26 degree mark while IN the brace. Will her curve ever be corrected? With all we understand and the research we have done, we have not found any reason to believe that her curve will be corrected at this point. Our goal right now with her growth spurts is to keep it from getting worse, encourage stretching, introduce yoga and stick with the chiropractor and bracing. We go back to Riley in August for another IN BRACE x-ray. The rule of thumb is 6 months or if she grows 2 inches or more between now and then. It's possible that at her next appointment they will recommend a new brace as she will most likely outgrow the current brace by that point. The doctor gave us some good information on how we know if she has outgrown the brace and moving forward anything we should watch for in regards to any adjustments that need made.

We feel really good about this appointment and were able to ask all the questions that came up along the way as well as questions we had prior to her appointment.
There are still good days and bad days but for the most part, Alexa is one tough girl!

Just wanted to end this with so much thanks and appreciation for those who have been so encouraging and positive along the way! We don't always know what the right answer is as we make tough decisions for her, but we feel good about the one's we have made this far and know that for our family, this is the best option today. Tomorrow might guide us down a different path but today, we are content.