Savanna

Savanna

Monday, August 25, 2014

I guess green was the color of the day!

Cast #5 is on, and everything went great!  (And we all ended up in green somehow!)  However, before we get to Cast #5, as usual, let's review some of Savanna's awesome summer adventures...

We had a fun little playdate at our house to help celebrate Savanna's 2nd birthday.  (Yes, we celebrated her birthday for a couple of weeks!)


Savanna got to hang out with her buddy Jolene at a cookout.



She also got to hang out with her buddy Eden at Shindig on the Green.  Every time a song was done, Savanna cried for more.  By the way, her favorite words right now are Bluegrass and Reggae!  I guess we are doing something right!?? :-)



Hiking with Dada...


Trying on mama's shoes... great fit!

Bike Riding!


Hoopin' it up at River Music



Mountain Play Lodge

Book Club Olympics - yes, we are in our "tourist" costumes!  (Savanna was wanting to play some tennis too, I guess.)  We tied for second place at the Olympics!





Chilling at Biltmore





When we took her cast off on Aug. 19, it had been 9.5 weeks since she got the cast on!  That was a looooooong time to have it on (especially in the hot summer), but I'm happy to report that her skin looked really good with just some minor heat rash and really dry skin, like usual.  Thankfully, there was nothing worse.  Needless to say, we made the most of her 5 cast-free days!

First real bath in two months...  She loved it!


  That rib hump is looking really good too!



Hanging at the big kids pool!  She had so much fun playing in the pool for about 2 hours, that she fell asleep within 5 minutes of being in the car on the way home!


Hanging out at our home pool




On August 22, we had a new x-ray taken, but we did not get to know the results until August 25, the morning of Cast #5.  At beginning of casting in January, she was at approximately 52 degrees.  After 7 months and 4 casts, she measured around 40 degrees.  The left photo is from Aug. 22 out of cast, the middle is from January out of cast, and the right is from January in her first cast.


We had hoped for a lot more improvement, especially since she looks so much better to us!  However, the doctor reminded us that this is a slow process and could take about 2 years.  When he remembered that we were only 7 months in, he said, "Well, we are just at the beginning of this journey."  So, there's that.  It's not something we wanted to hear.  However, the good news I took away from this was the following:  He never said anything like, "I can't believe we haven't seen more improvement."  Also, he did say that this was still the best course of action to take regardless of her improvement.  Casting is what is the best and least invasive option for her at this time, so stay the course we will!

Cast Day #5 - We were first case, and we had to be there at 8:00am, which means we had to get up at 5:15am!  She did great and was in a good mood the whole time before surgery, until they put the mask on her in the OR.  I call that a success.

Waiting to go to the OR...

Playing with her new Minnie Mouse cards (Shriners always hooks her up!  We also got a cute blanket and a new outfit (a soccer jersey) for her Build-a-Bear.)



After the cast was on, and she came back to us from recovery, she was not very happy.  Thankfully, we had lots of grapes and cheddar bunnies to help cheer her up.  The hose in the photo is a dryer for her cast.



Here she is being turned into a flower (petalled) in the cast trimming room.




All done!  She choose green for this cast.  I guess she wanted to match her mom and dad!  We kept telling her she was our little turtle.



To learn more about Progressive Infantile Scoliosis, please check out this PSA...


Also, as you consider contributing to charities, please consider donating to Shriners Hospitals for Children and the Infantile Scoliosis Outreach Program (http://www.infantilescoliosis.org/).  We couldn't be working like we are to heal Savanna if it wasn't for these two entities!

Next casting date:  October 30, 2014, so we've got about 8 weeks!

Next adventure: Traveling to the coast to visit family.  Unfortunately, there won't be any beach time for this little one.

Thanks for reading and for keeping us in your thoughts!  Also, thanks to my awesome friends for helping keep us fed on casting days!!