Kaitlyn's story

In March 2005, at the age of 13, Kaitlyn was diagnosed with scoliosis. She had a 10 degree curvature of the spine. Her doctor said to just watch her spine and that most people who have scoliosis don't progress much past that degree. Kaitlyn's back did not change much until November 2006. At that point she had 2 curvatures that were between 30 and 35 degrees. She started wearing a hard plastic back brace for 23 hours a day. This was not an easy time for her. The brace was very constricting and painful.

Over the next 6 months Kaitlyn wore the brace and saw a chiropractor. Her curvatures went down to the 25 to 30 degree range. We were hopeful that this would continue to decrease. Around the same time Kaitlyn grew and was sized for her second back brace. This one was more constricting and more uncomfortable. During the growth the curvatures increased to around 40 - 45 degrees. Her doctor told us that there was a possibility that she would need to have surgery to correct her spine.

By April of 2008, her doctor told us that Kaitlyn would need to have surgery by this summer as the curve was starting to affect her heart and right lung. Kaitlyn was very tired from dealing with pain and not being able to take in enough oxygen. At times the pain was so bad that she wasn't able to go to school or other activities. She was starting to have trouble concentrating. By this time her curves were in the 50 degree range.

We scheduled surgery for July 21, 2008, with hopes that the curvatures would decrease and she wouldn't have to go through surgery. When Kaitlyn returned to Shriners Hospital for a pre-operation appointment in June, it was discovered that her curvatures had gone to around 75 degrees in a very short period of time.

Her scoliosis surgeon told us that he would need to bring in another specialist to also operate on Kaitlyn and that everything we had planned would be doubled (two surgeons, longer surgery, longer in ICU, longer in the hospital and recovery time). We have made plans for all of this with hopes and prayers that each of these things will go smoothly and that Kaitlyn will heal as quickly as possible. We are standing in faith for complete healing.

This week Kaitlyn is preparing to check into the hospital on Sunday, July 20th and having surgery the morning of July 21st.

We have a friend who will be updating this blog whenever we are able to give her new information.

We will be checking the blog when we are able to, so please leave comments for Kaitlyn and her family to read for encouragement.

Many of you have offered help in many ways. Our friend, Jill Goodnight, has offered to coordinate our needs during this time. If you would like to contact her for schedules of what is needed (meals, errand running, visits, help with Kaitlyn after she is home, things to keep Kaitlyn entertained, or anything else), please feel free to contact Jill at:
916-717-3116(Jill's cell phone)
jgoodnight@ckr.com(Jill's work email)
goodnightjill@yahoo.com(Jill's personal email)
Kaitlyn is scheduled to be in the hospital 10-14 days(3-4 days in ICU)

Thank you,

The Blackwood Family