Off to Green Bay

In my last post, I mentioned that Natalia was diagnosed with moderate to severe scoliosis in September. She has been being treated at Children's Hospital in Seattle. We have received excellent care there, however, Natalia's scoliosis has continued to progress rather rapidly. At our last visit in early December, we met with the head orthopedic/scoliosis doctor. From a medical standpoint, Natalia is a candidate for spinal fusion surgery to straighten her spine and stop the progression. While we believe that the doctors at Children's are among the best in the world, and trust that she would receive excellent care there, we also know that spinal fusion is a major surgery that would impact Natalia for the rest of her life. We want to make sure that we explore all other viable options before proceeding with spinal fusion surgery. After research, we have decided to go through the "Scoliosis Boot Camp" program in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This is an intensive 2-week treatment program developed by a group of chiropractors called the Clear Scoliosis Institute. We feel like this is our best chance at avoiding spinal fusion surgery.

Natalia and I fly out to Green Bay tomorrow - Sunday, January 1st, and will be there through Friday, January 13th. Natalia will be in about 7 hours of treatment per day, Monday through Thursday, and 4 hours on Fridays. We'll come home with a set of exercises, and probably a traction chair as well. We hope to be able to do follow-up treatment with a chiropractor in Bellevue that has been trained in the Clear methods.

I hope to update this blog during our trip to give updates on the treatment and how things are going. We are hoping it isn't too cold!