Today was the day.... I got the new brace. Some of the pictures Jim took are icky to see, so I apologize in advance if they bother you. My back is not pretty to look at, especially in a bathing suit! So here is the explanation of how the day went. The first x-ray is before starting anything. My middle curve measures at 68 degrees and the lower curve measures at 54 degrees.
First, the doctors fitted me with the base that will hold it all steady on me and explained to me how to fit it correctly on myself.
The back side has laces that they made tight to fit very snuggly around my pelvis. There is some sort of plastic material on the front that has a lot of snaps on it.
Next came time to learn a corrective posture before putting on the rest of the brace. I lean my upper body to the left, then twist at the waist and while holding myself in this awkward position I snap two straps on. Then I relax and start the same process over to get ready to snap the other two staps in place. I have to swing my arm slowly across my body next to rotate that pronounced shoulder back and the next two straps hold that in place.
Then we went and took another x-ray while the brace was on to see what immediate correction I got from having it on. Then they measured things again to have the corrected measurements. In this bending position, my upper curve out of the brace, if I remember correctly, is 55. In the brace, it goes down to 18! Then the lower curve was 18 out of the brace and in the brace, it went down to zero!!!!! The doctor couldn't believe what he was seeing and rechecked three times. His wife was inputting everything on their program and kept saying, "No, that can't be right." So she had to come over and look for herself to see it was. But man, holding that bending position for that long while they checked and rechecked was hard!
Next, the brace came off and I got to wear a bunch of reflective balls for some pictures too see my posture out of the brace. Jim had fun laughing at me for this. These are the same type of balls that are used to animate a person for movies or video games.
The two connected with the red band show my unlevel scapula's.
I felt like a robot. It was interesting.
Next, I had to go and change into a white body suit and get all braced up again for the same process with the reflectors to take pictures of my posture in the brace.
The last pictures are the x-rays side by side to measure the curves in and out of the brace. The one on the left is in the brace. You can see the metal snaps over my pelvis. I know they don't look very different, but as I mentioned at the top of the posting, my middle curve is 68 degrees out of the brace and in the brace it drops to 63 degrees. The lower curve out of the brace is 54 degrees and in the brace, it drops to 49 degrees. That's a total of 10 degrees less immediately! So you can see, with a matter of time and a lot of work, I will hopefully be feeling a lot better and be improving my spine. And I can be totally flexible while doing it! I have to work up to the amount of hours per day I wear it. Today, I wore it for 6 total hours, about 4 in the afternoon and another 2 in the evening. I'm a little sore, but that's to be expected. I'm really excited and happy to have this opportunity and look forward to updating all of you on my progress!
11 comments:
Forget about the icky back warning... what about the white legs warning? Haha, looks awesome!
ahhhh mae... im so excited for you...... love ya..
Wow Merri. That is so cool. I really hope this works out for you. How long does it take to put the whole contraption on?
Cute bathing suit. :0)
No matter what your back looks like you're still cuter than me in a bathing suit! I hope this this helps you lots.
Ah Merri! I'm so glad for you! You've been suffering with this for so long. Interesting process. Thanks so much for sharing. I'll keep you in my thoughts!
Mandy
I had no idea you had those problems. I'm so glad you found something to help. And, you don't look bad in the pictues w/ your swimsuit on.
That baseball game looked like fun. I miss those.
Merri, the brace, and it's effects are awesome. I am with Syndy, you are definately cuter than me in a bathing suit. Moreover, I have whiter legs than you do.
All snapped into the brace, I think you look like Laura Croft. Man, I would love to look like her.
You guys are all too kind...except Priscilla...hehehehe! Yes, I know I should have given a white legs warning too. Lets see, to answer Karen's question, it takes me about 4 minutes to get it all hooked on. I'm doing better today to get it on myself. It's interesting, for sure. I'm guessing I'll get faster at it with practice. I can't believe how much it has helped me already! With only having it on for a few hours yesterday, I had little pain when I laid in bed for the night. I usually have severe pain for about 45 minutes before I can breath good and have my pain at a bearable level to sleep, so that is huge for me! I'm really looking forward to being able to do more things, and with less pain! Yipeeeeee! Thanks to all of you!
Merri - I didn't realize how bad your back is. What an amazing thing this is. I can't wait to hear more about it. How long does it take to get into it every time? I can only imagine how worth it it is. Good luck.
WOW! Look at you Pretty Lady. I think you look wonderful and those Laura Croft booty straps... tight ;)
These pictures remind me of the other brace that you had a while back. Except the old one seemed like a hard, uncomfortable, plastic case. I think you've had several, right? The new one makes me think of a corset and how women used them to keep their posture, tighten their tummy, and boost their uppers ;) I'm sorry to hear about the pain you have been in, I didn't know you were still dealing with that. If I were there I would smother you with soft Joycie hugs and cheeky kisses. I LOVE YOU my friend.
By the way I'm not sure if you saw, but I had good news a week or so ago. I am my ward's new Young Woman's President. I am enJOYCEing every minute of it ;) Hi there all my sweet friends, may you all be blessed by OUR FATHER this week. HUGS, JOYCE
Icky Smicky- more like hot hot hot!!! I can't believe those x-rays. I knew you had mentioned pain- but I can only imagine after seeing your poor spine x-rays! I hope your brace does the trick and helps you live pain free!
Post a Comment