Sigh of relief

First, I LOVE Shriner's Hospital! Everyone was so nice and so great with Kiya. And of course they all just loved how cute and spunky she was. Kiya has been known to not like male doctors but she did great today. She walked with the resident, sang for the nurse and the social worker and even said hi and bye to her doctor who is an older man. She had one little melt down but recovered. The only downfall is that there was a lot of waiting hence bored toddler and at one point she started to fall asleep. Too cute!

That said, we are breathing a big sigh of relief. The doctor looked at her x-ray and MRI films and agreed that there were no abnormalities. He also felt like her curve was around 40 degrees which in essence matches what the doctor here told us. We got asked a TON of questions about her development and if she had any other medical issues. We gladly responded that she is a healthy kid and after recent evaluation from Birth to 3 that she is meeting or exceeding all developmental milestones with the exception of walking. I think we must have said this like a million times. We told the nurse, the resident twice, the doctor, the social worker, etc.

The doctor was confident that if she had no other neurological issues that the Mehta casting would do wonders to fix her curve. He asked us if Kiya had been to a neurologist and we said no that there was no reason to as of yet. So he asked us again about her development and we repeated that she is right on track with no other concerns and he said great this casting should do wonders for her.

We really liked Dr. S. He will be leaving Shriner's Hospital sadly, but we know we will be in good hands after he leaves. His nurse, Linda, is beyond amazing and I am so grateful she is part of Kiya's treatment team.

So I am breathing a HUGE sigh of relief tonight. Why? Well my fears were going into this appointment were that the doctor would see something that was missed or that he would tell us that Kiya would need surgery. Surgery isn't permanently out of the picture but it is nowhere near the table right now which is reassuring.

We are ready to get started. We are hoping for a date in September still but the calendar is getting full. We are crossing our fingers and saying our prayers that September it is. We are ready to start our journey to being straight. No more curvy back for Kiya. That is the goal. We know the road may be bumpy especially at first but we have to start somewhere.

**Additional numbers in Kiya's Kare Korner.

Feeling hopeful

I know that I have been a terrible blogger lately. Honestly, I haven't been in the best of moods. Life has been taking its toll on me physically and emotionally. I have been in a bad mood. Life stinks sometimes. It plain isn't fair. But I saw a light yesterday afternoon, a much needed one that helped me shift my perspective a little.

Kiya had her first appointment with her Birth to 3 therapist yesterday afternoon.  I was really not looking forward to it. Kiya had been off and on whiny all day and really we have been there done that before with not much success. Boy was I wrong.

I LOVE our therapist. She let Kiya come to her and took it slow. She wasn't over bearing and while the hour we were together consisted of zero physical therapy activities it was the best hour. She played cars with Kiya and they laughed together. We all sang Ring Around the Rosie and If your Happy and you know it. It was amazing.

So why so great if we did zero therapy??? Well, because I am actually feeling hopeful. This hasn't happened in awhile. Our therapist was encouraged by all the things Kiya was doing. She felt Kiya was doing all the things that she should be physically and that her biggest problem was her ankles. She rolls in on her ankles while standing up. More so on the right than the left but it is obvious. This has been on the radar before but we had no clear solutions. That changed yesterday.

She emailed me last night the name of the braces she recommends, the name of the company here in town that makes them and a form for our doctor to sign so we can get these custom made braces. I dropped the form off at Kiya's pediatrician's office for her signature and then called the company that makes the braces to see what we needed to send them to get an appointment. The woman asked for all of our info, said bring the signed form in and then promptly scheduled us for an appointment for next week. I was floored. I am so excited to get these braces and see the progress.

Our therapist also suggested getting Kiya an easel or whiteboard that would force her to stand up more vertically with her hands up versus standing at a table with hand down.  She also thought it would be a good idea for Kiya to have a big wheel type tricycle, something with pedals. This will help her get used to alternating the use of each leg. She currently if we don't force her will climb up the stairs pushing up only on her right leg. She can push up just fine with her left leg she just doesn't.

I feel like for the first time in a long time we have a plan. A real legitimate plan to help Kiya catch up and eventually soar. We have this amazing therapist. We have Shriner's hospital and we have some new friends that have helped make this journey a little more tolerable.

I am ready to jump in and get started. I hate that all of this is happening but it is. Kiya is going to have a lot of changing thrown at her in the next few weeks and she is going to need me to be strong for her as she adjusts. I worry she will be mad at first. I take that back. I know she is going to be mad for awhile. I am not worried about the ankle braces as much as they are flexible and have velcro and she loves having her shoes and socks on. It is the cast that worries me. I know she will bounce back but she is going to be mad. She will have to learn to do some things differently but I know she will do it. The first cast will be the hardest on all of us but together we will get through it.

I think I may be ready to make lemonade with all the lemons life has thrown our way lately. I know this is going to be a bumpy ride for all of us and there will be good days and bad but I am hopeful. We finally have a path to follow that will hopefully lead to nothing but great things for Kiya. I dream about seeing her run around outside. I look forward to the appointment that tells us this is her last cast and she will be fitted for a brace. I look forward to Kiya truly achieving her potential and being a kid in all ways. She is such an amazing little girl and I hate that a curvy spine and some funky ankles are holding her back.  I am grateful for Kiya's energy, intellect, sweetness, creativity and that sweet little voice of hers.

Watch out world Kiya's is coming better than ever and she is a force to be reckoned with :)