Too Optimistic???

[Guest guest]

Hello All,

My 20-month old son, just got his third cast at Shriner's Philly.

After the casting, Dr. C told us something that quite surprised my husband and

I. While I want to believe him, I was just wondering if any of you have ever

been told something like this.

's curve began at at least 44 degrees (I say " at least " because there

were weeks between this X-ray and casting). An " out of cast " X-ray was taken

after his first cast, revealing a 40 degree curve (probably more than 4 degrees

correction). There were also TWO " apples to apples " comparison X-rays taken on

his first and second casting days, but they were taken supine. Before cast #1,

he was 22 degrees supine ... and before cast #2, he was 11 degrees supine. Dr.

C did NOT take an " out of cast " X-ray after cast #2.

Currently, IN cast #3, 's curve is 3 to 4 degrees. We are super excited

about this, but we were surprised because Dr. C told us " I only expect

to have one to two more casts after cast #3. " WHAT?!?! Don't get me wrong,

THAT WOULD BE WONDERFUL ... however, it really shocked us that he would make

that call without seeing a standing, " out of cast " X-ray. We don't want to be

too optimistic and then be crushed when this process takes much longer! In your

opinion, would you just assume that " doctor knows best " and that he can somehow

estimate this based on 's " in cast " curve? He also mentioned that

was very, very flexible and that that was a good sign.

Any opinions/experinces would be appreciated!