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!

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!!