Tiger Stripes for the New Year!

December 30, 2014

Cast #7 is in place now!  Today went well.  Yes, it has been a long day, but we are through it.  As I write this, Savanna is taking a much deserved nap.  Not only did she skip her nap yesterday and the day before, she was up late last night, and we got her up at 4:00am today.  What a little trooper we have!  Before I talk more about casting day, let's check out some photos from Savanna's adventures over the last couple of months...

Savanna's Adventures

Halloween 2014 - Little Ice Cream Cone

Thanksgiving 2014 - Visit to Ohio

School Photos are here!

Christmas Party - December 13.  Savanna was up LATE that night, and boy oh boy, did mom and dad pay for it!  She was tired for the next couple of days!

Opening some Christmas presents...

Trip to the beach for more Christmas celebrations and trip to the aquarium with family

Feeding the "bodie, bodie, bodies" (a.k.a. birdies) on the beach...

Cast break bath time fun!  Her skin looked really good with only some minor heat rash.

Casting Day #7

Today started off at 3:30am for us!  We arrived at Shriners before 6:00am.  It's nice when we are "first case" of the day because we generally get out earlier, however, those early wake up calls are not fun.  When the doctor/surgeon came in to see us, he looked at Savanna's back.  He said he still sees "deformation", as he suspected.  He wants us to do another xray before Cast #9 just to help track her progress.  It's a little disheartening to hear him say her back still isn't looking that great, but hey, at least we are not being given false hope.  He told us from the beginning that the casting process would likely take us at least two years, and we are only 11 months in at this point.  Therefore, we have no idea how many more casts she'll have.

We met a little boy today that has already had about 18 casts and is likely looking at surgery in the future.  I feel so awful for that little boy and his family (and for our other scoli friends that are facing surgery), and I also fear that might be in our future.  However, Savanna's curve was not as severe as the little boy's, so we are still hoping that casting can cure her.  She hasn't grown very much this year (only about 2 inches taller and 2 pounds heavier), and we need her to grow taller for the casting to help cure her.  Her doctor mentioned that about 3/4 of the "scoli kids" tend to grow more slowly than others.  There isn't a definite reason why, and the kids will catch up to others eventually, but it's maddening that this early growing is how she'll get cured, and it's not happening as quickly as we would like!  Patience, grasshopper, patience...

In the Pre-Op room...

After the casting...

Savanna getting all trimmed up and "petalled"...

Our super fierce little pink tiger!  You're gonna hear her ROAR!

We were able to leave the hospital by 12:00pm, so we made it home by 1:30.  What a long day, but thankfully all went well!

Thank you to my girlfriends that provided us with dinner tonight.  Your support and help makes days like today that much more bearable!  :-)  Also, I'm very thankful to my husband.  He and I make a very good team for Team Savanna.  I couldn't go through all of this without him!

In case you are interested, the Infantile Scoliosis Outreach Program has a new website.  It includes an excerpt from Savanna's Story, and a link to this blog!
http://www.infantilescoliosis.org/
http://www.infantilescoliosis.org/savannahs-story/ (blog excerpt)
http://www.infantilescoliosis.org/resources/ (blog roll)

Our next casting date is March 5.  I will probably not be in attendance next time, which will make me very sad.  However, our family is expecting a little extra adventure over these next 6 weeks during which time Savanna's little brother will be born!  Please continue to keep our family in your thoughts!  Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!  :-)

Purple Smiley Faces, All the Way!

Here we are... the blog post for Cast #6!  Can you believe it?  It's been a long journey so far, but I am happy to report that it has been relatively smooth.  Yes, we hate casting days.  They are very long days that are pretty stressful/emotional for Savanna as well as us, her parents.  However, so far, things have gone as well as they could have, and for that we are very thankful!

Before we get into Casting #6, let's review some of Savanna's adventures over the past two months.  We've been having lots of fun!

Savanna's Latest Adventures

Biking at Biltmore

Hanging on the front porch

Chilling with her cousin Julianna over Labor Day weekend

National Alpaca Day at Echoview Farm

Checking out the animals at Hickory Nut Gap Farm

(Yes, that might be a pumpkin in mama's belly too...  Ok, it's a baby!  

Savanna will be a big sister in February!)

Visit to the Nature Center

Dancing with her friend Emery at French Broad Brewery... 

and her cousin Kalia at the Lake Eden Arts Festival...

Picking Apples at Justus Orchard

Casting Day #6
The day started early as usual.  We woke up at 3:30am (and got Savanna up at 4:00) and arrived at Shriners by 6:00am.  We were the first case of the day, which meant things went pretty quickly.  We got up to the pre-op area by 6:30, and Savanna was taken back to surgery by 7:45.

Chilling in the waiting area

Did I mention we got up at 3:30??  Dada was tired...  The nurses kept joking that he was quite big for a two-year-old!

Dada getting ready to take Savanna back to surgery.  

After about an hour, the surgery/casting was over.  Then, we waited another 40 minutes before we could see Savanna while she was in recovery.  Finally, we got to see her again.  She was NOT a happy camper today.  Come to find out that the source of her discomfort turned out to be gas from the anesthesia.  Thank goodness that was it!  (Also, her getting up at 4:00am and not eating breakfast could have contributed...)  Here she is becoming a flower again (a.k.a. getting petalled).

The soother of the day was not strawberries or bunnies today, but videos on the phone!  They were a life saver.

Savanna kept saying she wanted a purple cast, so we got her purple with smiley faces.

Before we left Shriners, Savanna got some special Halloween treats!  It was Halloween at the hospital today, and most of the nurses and admin folks were in costume.  It was awesome!

We left the hospital today by 10:30am, which is a new record!  It was nice being home by lunchtime.  I'm thankful that we live so close to such a wonderful hospital that specializes in what we need.

By the way, we just "officially" started potty training on Monday (three days ago), and it has been going pretty well.  I was worried that today might mess everything up because of the schedule changes, etc., but I'm happy to report, even today has gone okay in that area.  It's because Savanna is just so cool and tolerant. :-)

Again, what kind of AWESOME, UNBELIEVABLY cool friends do I have?  They hooked us up with dinners and desserts again!  It brings tears to my eyes to know that they care so much.  Also, it makes a pretty emotional, long day that much more bearable.  I love my village!

Thanks for reading!  Savanna's next casting (#7) is scheduled for December 30.  I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season!  We'll catch you again around New Years!