MRI news

Update 4- 

Update- April 15, 2014- The MRI's came back good, meaning no sign of cause or complication. In our terms this is a great thing because the scoliosis she has is not because of something degenerative. Tests on her spinal chord were negative which is also good. No sign of complication clears her MRI's for surgeries! The pulmonary function test came back positive as well.

We are down to the last 2 sets of testing; her lab work and her echocardiogram. Olivia is pushing to finish up school by May 9th and get her exams done. SAT testing is this week, so labs will wait until Friday afternoon or next week. The echocardiogram is next Wednesday am at the hospital.

We ask for prayers for the echo testing. 2 previous EKG's came back with an area of concern, and this will be the last test to rule out those concerns and clear her for the surgeries.

Thank you all for continued love and support. We appreciate hearing from everyone. Feel free to share Olivia's story as we want all the prayers we can get for her as she heads to surgeries.

(the photo is Olivia and her sister sitting on some great old cars!)

Update 5-

Great news!!!

This has been big couple of weeks. ALL of Olivia's pre-tests are complete. AND, the one I had been really worried about was done as well on Wednesday morning.

A few weeks ago, Olivia had an EKG which came back abnormal with a diagnosis of RVH, right ventricular hypertrophy. The internet was not my friend in this case as it only made me worry more. We went in for a consult with her pediatric cardiologist, and he repeated the EKG believing it had been an error but it came out the same. So for the last couple weeks, I've been anxious and awaiting her echo cardiogram at the hospital. Wednesday was the day, and the results came back yesterday. She's all GOOD!!! NO signs of the RVH and all cleared for surgery! Right ventricular hypertrophy, the enlargement of the right ventricle, is considered to be one of the rare diseases of the heart. Unlike the left ventricle, which tends to overwork itself when it detects abnormalities, the right ventricle dilutes itself.

What a relief! We can all relax now and get ready the next two weeks for Olivia to finish up school and prepare to head to Philadelphia. I can't tell you how much it has mean to receive all the messages and texts of prayers and praise!

Another really cool thing I found out about that Olivia will get to utilize is the new EOS machine at Shriner's in Philadelphia. The EOS is a low dost X-ray machine that exposes kids to 1/10 the radiation of a regular X-ray machine. For those kids, like Olivia, who need multiple X-rays, this machine is more safe and amazing. And it is now at the hospital she is headed to!

We are all breathing again! Thanks for your love and support and for poking me to do these updates!!

 

Olivia featured in FSU's High Performance Tennis blog

Update 3-

I've had requests for an update so thought I'd send this out...

This last week, Olivia had 3 MRI's on Monday. She did great, even though the big machine made her nervous. It IS a long time to have to lay still even with ear plugs and music! We have not gotten the results back on this yet, but the indication was that it looked good.

On Tuesday, we met with a pediatric cardiologist who consulted with us about her first EKG results. He decided to do another EKG which was unexpected. He thought maybe the first had been an error but the second one came back exactly the same. She will have to have an echocardiogram on April 23rd.

She continues to have her early morning physical therapy appointments on Mondays and Wednesdays and is progressing the way they want her too.

Thursday afternoon she had her 2nd appointment to help stretch and get her muscles supple and loose for the surgeries. Although some of the exercises are a bit difficult for her, she plugs through and says she feels so much better afterwards.

This week we are just waiting on results of the tests so far and receiving more calls from the surgeon's nurse regarding things upcoming.

On a really note, I had been contacted by the coaches of the FSU Men's tennis team who wanted to do a blog article about Olivia. It was sent to me to read after it was written, and really just made me cry. Olivia beamed when she read it. If you care to read the article, you can go to http://www.spearheadtennis.blogspot.com/   Go to the blog post titled Olive from April 2014.

Olivia's first surgery is five weeks from today. We are counting down.

Thank you to all who continue to pray and support us. And thanks to all those who continue to ask about Olivia and how she is doing. I will post another update as I get more info.

Telling Her Story

As I begin this story, please note I wrote it as it was happening. Because I want to document it here, it will stay in the tense used at the time it was written.

Update 1- We are just over 7 weeks away from heading to Philadelphia for Olivia's first surgery. Next week is the first of a big week for her. Physical therapy continues as well as massage and electro-therapy to control pain. She will have her EKG and Pulmonary Function test this upcoming week and a visit with her spine doctor here to check her brace and any further progression of her curves.

Update 2-

Olivia began her pre-op tests this week. She continues to work with a physical therapist early mornings before school. She also began working with a therapist who will help to make her back muscles nice and supple and easy to maneuver for her surgeries. Her EKG came back with an area of concern so we will do a consult this week on Tuesday with a pediatric cardiologist. This will most likely lead to scheduling an echo cardiogram. We are hoping for a "normal variance". And yesterday we went to the hospital, a friend in tow, for her to have a pulmonary function test. Those results should be back on Monday but the initial indication is that it was a good test.

So we are moving along and getting closer to the surgery dates. Thank you all for the prayers and support we have received via encouraging words, donations, calls, and emails! We know prayer works!! And thank you all for ALL of those things! I will post another update again soon!!

 

Counting down the days...

My girl was so brave...

Scoliosis

Idiopathic Scoliosis-
 Idiopathic means there is no definite cause for the disease. It is a condition where a child's spine curves abnormally side-to-side. The spine is also rotated or twisted pulling the ribs along with it.

 

The picture represented above was very indicative of a milder look at what my daughter had prior to surgery in May. 

My daughter was diagnosed with scoliosis in June of 2013 while being treated in physical therapy for a pelvis avulsion fracture caused from competitive cheer. When her therapist noticed it and sent us to have it looked at, the news was devastating, as her degree of severity at the time showed 2 curves measuring 36 degrees. To put it into perspective, 7 degrees is the cutoff for a true scoliosis diagnosis. We were seen again in September and luckily it had not progressed, but sometime during that month into October, she began complaining of terrible back pain and spasms. Although she was not to see her spine specialist again until this month, we got her in again in early December 2013. The results came back worse with the top curve increasing to 43 degrees. At this time she was fitted for a Boston Brace which she received the day after Christmas with an order to wear it 23 hours a day. This has not been easy for this very active 13 year old! 

Around this time, I was introduced to  a spine surgeon at Shriner's Hospital in Philadelphia who over the past 10 years has perfected a fusion-less spinal surgery that has less complications and quicker recovery time then the traditional spinal fusion surgery discussed with us. We traveled to Philadelphia to meet with the surgeon who ordered many x-rays, and after consulting with his team, we received news that she was a candidate for two different surgeries. So we received good news amongst some bad news. In early February, she developed a cervical curve as well, and had three curves total. They measured at that time, from the top down, 25.1 (cervical), 57.3 (thoracic), and 38.1 (lumbar). 

The first surgery was to consist of a half spinal fusion to fuse thoracic vertebraes T2-T12 later changed to T4-T12. They would let her begin to heal in the hospital for about a week to ten days before her second scheduled surgery. This one would have been a half vertebral body tethering (fusion-less) on her lumbar spine. Her time in the hospital was to be right at three weeks. We are grateful that it turned out not to be! The upper spine was not only curved but twisted inward. It was the hope that fusing the top part of her spine would allow the bottom to straighten out. And during the surgery that is exactly what happened!!

Here is what we were looking at during the beginning of 2014!! 
The darkened area is the twisted part of her spine.

There is a lot more to this story..... to be continued.

OH the TREES is RIGHT!!

OH the TREES is RIGHT!!

Have I seriously not been here since September of 2013?!

But so much has happened! And now, where to begin!!!? It's already mid-April and a third of the way through the year. The kids have gotten older, my husband and I too! Even our furry family members!

Let's just say I didn't read enough last year. As a matter of fact, I didn't make my goal for running either. I may have only made a few which makes me think I shouldn't make those I don't intend to keep. Except for the running... I intended on keeping that one but due to an injury, my only option was to stop.

Lot's going on with the girls.... but for this post while I gather my thoughts, I will post this picture of my Dad. It's one of my favorites and speaks volumes.

Dad has been cancer-free for two years!! 

oh the trees