Hadley's new brace

Hadley got her new brace last Friday and is doing great so far with it! The apts went great! We went to Chicago extremely early in the morning, but made it on time despite the snowy roads. Praise God! She first was fitted for her brace at the brace shop, then we went over to the hospital where she had an apt with her orthopedic dr. It sure felt weird, but a good weird to be in the hospital knowing we weren't there for a cast! It was such a relief not to have to go through all that again! One of Hadley's cast nurses came in to visit her and said they all missed her. She's been there longest patient starting so young. Its nice to know they care about her so much!
Also, the Dr's secretary said they've used Hadley's story and picture in a presentation to demonstrate the benefits of Mehta casting! Amazing how God is using our little Hadley!

Anyways, Hadley's apt with her Dr went great. He was very pleased with how things were going. She did have an Xray out of her brace and her curve went up to 12 degrees from 8 degrees. My stomach turned upside down when I heard that, BUT the Dr said those numbers are nothing and she is just fine even at 12 degrees! And on top of that, God is in control so I just need to trust him!

We have an apt in 2 months to see where her back is then. We'll get an Xray in the brace. If it remains under 20, then we are all good. If not, well, then we'll have to look into casting again. I asked the Dr if once kids are done with the cast, if there curves usually stay down or if they tend to progress again. He said it is not typical for the spine to progress after it is corrected to under 20 degrees! But that doesn't mean its not possible. There is not too much research since this is so new. Plus there aren't any cases like Hadley that starting at a crazy 74 degrees corrected down to a 12 degrees! That would be the work of God!

The awesome news is that if all goes well and Hadley's spine stays under 20 degrees, she'll only have to wear this brace for a year! Then maybe a night brace, but that's nothing!

This brace really is great compared to casting. Its light, easy to clean, doesn't go over her shoulders, and the best part of all, we can remove it for one hour a day! She's doing very well with it and is very proud of it. She has wanted to take it off a couple times(the Velcro straps are in the front), but we told her it needs to stay on and she does OK with that.

Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to be praying for her next apt!
I'll keep you updated :)

Getting fitted for her brace


Checking this thing out...


Thinking, Hey... this isn't so bad!


And here she is...