Spine Check-up

Good Afternoon everyone. As I mentioned the other day Ava had an appointment with Dr. Weinstein at Iowa Children’s Hospital. He is an Orthopedic doctor. This was our first meeting with him. What a wonderful, loving doctor he truly is! It is neat to see a doctor that LOVES his job. He introduced himself to Ava and I could tell instantly she trusted him.

When we first came in Ava went right back for a full Spine x-ray. Her last Spinal check was done at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia while we were there for her two year CDH appointment and the CHOP fetal reunion in June 2008. She was 22 months old. I had not noticed any problems and her surgeon here in Iowa thought her Spine looked fine. However I like to be very sure. Many times in CDH kids they can get Scoliosis So with that warning I keep my ears, eyes and anything else alerted!

Dr. Weinstein made Ava do several bends and motions with her back. He then told me that her left hip is slightly lower than her right. You can see this in the x-ray below, if you look real close. This makes her right leg a tiny bit shorter. He is not concerned at this point he just wants to keep an eye on it. It isn’t enough of a difference to wear a shoe insert or anything. He wants her to see her in a year. He says overall her spine looks healthy. He sees no scoliosis! VERY good news for this Mama to hear!

Here is her X-rays of today. The first one is the frontal. I’m just noticing how GREAT her diaphragm looks on the left side. Also how big her lung is!!! And as you can see her heart is still a little shifted to the right as it was at birth.

Here is her side view. Again this makes me so happy to see things in their correct spots!

And here is a few pictures I took of her getting the X-rays. She immediately went and climbed up on the table. She didn’t understand that she could actually stand for an x-ray. Normally she lays. She listened to the techs very closely and did exactly as they asked. They all thought she was a doll.

“Head straight ahead Ava.”

She is getting so tall. They measured her today and she was almost 45 inches tall! Her weight 34.4 pounds! :)

Then you know the drill you wait to see if the x-rays are fine… and they were!

My oh My has she grown. Her sister’s were also at the appointment. They were only there for the “Olive Garden” afterwards!

And a few more extra pictures…

And we HAD to see the Hawkeye right? “Go Iowa Hawks!”

Ava couldn’t have ALL the fun so Lexis stepped in to help! Silly girls!

As we drove to eat I noticed I was driving the same road I often drove when I needed a short break from the PICU when Ava was very sick. I instantly felt so blessed and thanked God that second for he had done and is doing to keep Ava healthy. I rolled all the windows down in the Suburban and cranked up Lady Gaga’s song “Edge of Glory” (Ava’s favorite song) and we let the wind blow our hair. What a gorgeous day it was!No that is not probably the best song to thank God to… yet I know she is on the edge of Glory and is hanging on to the moment with us all. God has been good to us. We give Him all the Glory and Praise. He is the Healer!

I’d like to add a prayer request if I could. My Sister’s fiance, Doug is in Iowa City Hospitals right now. He just got his 4th kidney transplant today. Please band together with us and pray that he does well and no complications arise. Our family loves this man and he is the strongest person (besides) Ava I know. He was born with “Prune belly stndrome.” Here is a picture of him and my sister. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they have a long road ahead of them.

If you have not I encourage you to please thank God right now for all he has given you. Thanks again for keeping us close. We thank and love all of Ava’s blog and carepage followers!

~Terri