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nancy94011
Guest
Hey everyone, Sorry for the delay in posting a progress report but this last week has really been on a whirlwind since I picked up the new brace a week ago yesterday. The brace is much worse than I possibly imagined and much worse than my Doctor described. After the final fitting last Friday, July 10th, I was sent home in my new hardware and I think I spend the rest of the weekend crying! My poor husband, he's such a sweetheart and has been so supportive, I think I went through 10 boxes of tissue! I was able to tolerate the new brace until Sunday morning when I finally gave up and took it off! Unfortunately, after my surgery next week, I will not be able to do that and will have to keep the brace on 24/7 for at least the first 4 weeks!!
On Monday, my hubby helped me get back into my CTLSO which is just an absolute monster of a brace! My entire spine is now held in a straight line from my neck to my hips so I sort of have to turn my whole torso at the hips to look left or right, and forget about looking up or down. In this brace it can't be done. I have been back to the othodist 3 times last week for adjustments, my Doctors twice and the Physical Therapist twice to relearn how to do very basic things like walking w/o tripping, getting in and out of the car, eating, how to get in and out of bed and how best to go to the bathroom! These are all thing you take for granted when you are not braced from head to hips!
Some of you asked what the brace looks like so I will do my best to describe it. It is basically 2 molded halves of hard, foam lined plastic that start at my hips and come up over my breasts (cups are built in) in front and up to the shoulder blades in the back. The two halves connect at the sides with 3 Velcro straps on each side and 2 shoulder straps. Mounted to the top of the brace is the cervical attachment, I forget what they call it but it is basically a metal neck brace with bars that come up and support a pad/head piece at the back of my head and a bar in the front that holRAB the chin piece/cup. 2 straps firmly connect the head piece to the chin piece. Soooooooooooooo, that's basically it, not really a lot of fun to wear at this point but hopefully it will get a little easier soon. Right now I am really having a hard time with it and I haven't even had my surgery yet! The orthodist, my Doctor and the Physical therapist all say it gets better after a few weeks but at this point I really can't see that.
My surgery is now scheduled for the 22nd of July so I am getting very nervous but at least all this back and forth the last week has kept me busy and my mind off the surgery. I am really, really glad that I was pre-fitted with the brace and that most of the adjustments have been done before my surgery! I am also glad that I have been able to "test drive" it with the Orthodist and the PT before the surgery. I cannot imagine having to do all of that and all the back and forth after going through such a major surgery.
Sorry for the long winded message and thanks for everyone support and I will try and check in from time to time to keep everyone posted as to my progress.
Nancy
On Monday, my hubby helped me get back into my CTLSO which is just an absolute monster of a brace! My entire spine is now held in a straight line from my neck to my hips so I sort of have to turn my whole torso at the hips to look left or right, and forget about looking up or down. In this brace it can't be done. I have been back to the othodist 3 times last week for adjustments, my Doctors twice and the Physical Therapist twice to relearn how to do very basic things like walking w/o tripping, getting in and out of the car, eating, how to get in and out of bed and how best to go to the bathroom! These are all thing you take for granted when you are not braced from head to hips!
Some of you asked what the brace looks like so I will do my best to describe it. It is basically 2 molded halves of hard, foam lined plastic that start at my hips and come up over my breasts (cups are built in) in front and up to the shoulder blades in the back. The two halves connect at the sides with 3 Velcro straps on each side and 2 shoulder straps. Mounted to the top of the brace is the cervical attachment, I forget what they call it but it is basically a metal neck brace with bars that come up and support a pad/head piece at the back of my head and a bar in the front that holRAB the chin piece/cup. 2 straps firmly connect the head piece to the chin piece. Soooooooooooooo, that's basically it, not really a lot of fun to wear at this point but hopefully it will get a little easier soon. Right now I am really having a hard time with it and I haven't even had my surgery yet! The orthodist, my Doctor and the Physical therapist all say it gets better after a few weeks but at this point I really can't see that.
My surgery is now scheduled for the 22nd of July so I am getting very nervous but at least all this back and forth the last week has kept me busy and my mind off the surgery. I am really, really glad that I was pre-fitted with the brace and that most of the adjustments have been done before my surgery! I am also glad that I have been able to "test drive" it with the Orthodist and the PT before the surgery. I cannot imagine having to do all of that and all the back and forth after going through such a major surgery.
Sorry for the long winded message and thanks for everyone support and I will try and check in from time to time to keep everyone posted as to my progress.
Nancy
