Finding the new norm

Dancer Girl was able to reduce the hours in her brace recently.  This is great news because it means that the brace is doing it's job and we are heading towards a brace-free day!

However, it means adjusting our routine and we are finding it harder to do than we thought!

Dancer Girl prefers to get her hours in during the day and avoid sleeping in the brace.  She hasn't ever fully gotten used to sleeping in it.  Many girls do, maybe even most, but for Dancer Girl it has ben a struggle.  She wasn't a good sleeper before the brace though...

So, to get her hours in during the day she literally has to wear it pretty much every waking hour. That is where the problem arises.

She dances.  A lot.

     She has youth group where she'd rather not wear the brace.

            And church where she often helps in the nursery.

                   And outings with friends.

                          And homeschool classes or field trips.

You get the idea.

Suddenly getting 10-12 hours into the day isn't so easy. So we are trying to plan ahead & juggle days and nights in the brace to get her the hours during the day while reducing the number of nights she wears it.

It doesn't always work, and can result in frustrations, but we are getting better at finding our new norm.

Redecorating the brace

The stickers and rub-ons lasted much longer than we expected (see previous post about decorating the brace) and Dancer Girl decided it was time to try something new.

We had tried Sharpie pens earlier but she wasn't happy with how the colors went on - too dull I think was the verdict. This time she decided to just go for black line drawings and skip the color.

Those of you who are fans of Hunger Games & Divergent books will recognize the icons she chose to try.  I think they turned out quite well!

We covered them with clear tape to see if that helped it last longer. The smudging is from the original drawing process - one of the problems with using any pen on the plastic brace is that it doesn't dry as quickly as on paper and smudges are hard to avoid.

Someone suggested trying crafting vinyl paper. It comes in a variety of colors with an adhesive back and can be cut into any shape you want so it might be a very nice option.  If anyone has tried it we would love to see photos!

Reduce those hours!

This morning Dancer Girl had a check-up with her back doctor.  They took an x-ray out of the brace (after having not been in it for about a day) to compare it to the pre-brace curve.

The goal of the brace is to slow or stop progression. (Correction out of the brace is a bonus if it happens but it is not actually expected).

Basically, the curve is holding steady to pre-brace levels at around 27 degrees. Coupled with the fact that Dancer Girl has essentially stopped growing this was great news and has allowed her to reduce her hours in the brace. Yay!

She can now wear it "only at night" or for about 10-12 hours a day if she prefers the daytime. She does.  Sleeping in it has never become fully comfortable. She wasn't a great sleeper before the brace. Many girls get used to sleeping in it, some fairly quickly it seems, but Dancer Girl has never really managed it.

So there were tears of joy as she learned that the brace is doing its job, she can reduce her hours, and that she will go back in 6 months for another out of brace x-ray to see if she can be rid of it altogether at that point!