Result from Thomas' Scoliosis Treatment

2010/12/03

So far, as I can tell, this is a wonderful, rare, life experience and we will trying to enjoy our ride as much as possible. I think I am almost ready for the “try your best and pray” thing as part of my life schedule to the next phase of my life (50s)…

Thomas just had his evaluation this Monday. X-rays were taken a week after his last treatment (last Monday). X-rays were taken again after his Monday treatment as comparison. The good news is that his upper curve reduced. The BAD news is that his lower curve increased from 16 to 25 degrees, which means he has very high chance to get worse faster. But x-ray after his Monday treatment was 10+ degree, which means the treatment did make his spine straighter but somehow the result didn’t stay when treatment stopped.

We had our Wed treatment/appointments 2:15 - 7:30 pm yesterday.

Thomas did his regular treatments as usual. Since the school has “block schedule” (have diff classes every other day), we now have 2 backpacks. We weighted one of his backpack (12 lb) and doctor said it’s ok.

We knew his left foot is 1.2 cm shorter 3 months ago and thought this was the reason for his curves (left foot shorter makes his lower curve goes to the right, then balanced back and formed the upper curve to the left), and now we also identified his reaction on his right (little brain in the back) is weaker than his left. His right eye is weaker. He is right handed but left eye dominated. This will make his brain to command more growing to the right (lower curve to the right) and then balance it back to the left (upper curve to the left). He will also have some blood test soon to see if there is any nutrition issues. All of these might be caused by 1 thing or co-related with all issues.

We ordered the “scoliosis chair” for home use, and will have an appointment for a soft brace. We worked on drills for sitting. While driving home, Thomas and I talked about decision making and how to handle school work and his treatment in the same time. The doctors and I also talked about process improvement and how to post all the current drills on line so that those teenagers and parents will understand the latest drills more (since they check and modify drills according to the reaction often.)

After dinner, Thomas did his school work, studied a little, then worked on his evening drills, worked more on his school work and then went to sleep. 1st thing in the morning was still the drills, had his breakfast in the car while riding to school. No treatment Tues, Thur and weekends, but still need to do all the drills and excises twice a day.

The doctors will work on his case this week and then we will talk about Thomas’ treatment for next few months next week. Even this is not covered by health insurance, I just found out that the bill is high enough to be tax deductible. This is a good news. I also emailed his school councilor and teachers about his condition – can’t sit long. Councilor mentioned disability accommodation at school, but we are way too far from this. However, may be it’s a good thing to apply so that he might be able to have some advantage when applying college. I also told Thomas that I will move all money from his name as expenses for his treatment so that he might have a better chance for scholarship for college.

Two ways to treat Scoliosis – the “regular” way: wait and see, brace and then surgery if more than 40 degrees + pain killer the rest of the life, or the “alt” way: physical therapy. Both ways are no guarantee. Thomas is still young and growing, we will continue on the physical therapy way and hopefully he will stop growing soon (this is a perfect case of TALL is not a good thing) and his curves will be stable. And according his x-rays, he still has lots of growing to do.

Once he is fully grown, he will need to do his excise/drills. He might need to continue use the scoliosis chair or not. We will see.

Louise