Rocco was born 10 days early in June 23, 2011. He had an exciting birth as he was born bum first (breech) with a room full of doctors and nurses that wanted to see his unusual birth. Thankfully he was healthy. We were over joyed to have our little boy and to bring him home to his big sister.
At his 8 week check up, I mentioned to his nurse practitioner that I thought Rocco’s right shoulder seemed higher then the other. She recommended that we see a physiotherapist. His physiotherapist then diagnosed Rocco with Tortacollis (a short neck muscle) that was causing his head to tilt to the one side and made it appear that his shoulder was higher. After weekly appointments and painful exercises we lengthened his neck muscle and his Tortacollis went away. He was 6 months old when his physiotherapist noticed that his back looked alittle crooked. He then sent us to a paediatrician. We have also seen 2 neurologist, a genetic specialist and a orthopaedic doctor. It was the doctor at McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario that gave me the shocking need of Scolocsis. I felt like the wind was knocked out of me. It was just me and my baby boy locked safely in his car seat and my mind was racing about what this meant for his future. I also had to give the diagnoses to my hubby. We then saw 3 different orthopaedic doctors, Rocco’s has had 5 X-rays and an MRI. He has consistently remained at about 55 degree curve and thankfully his MRI did not show any underlying condition.
We were told like so many other parents that we should wait and see and that Rocco would eventually may need to have surgery. We just could not settle with that fate for our boy.
After a lot of research and speaking to many wonderful parents on ISOP we decided to travel from Canada to Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Erie Pennsylvania to begin his Mehta Casting. Rocco received his first cast on September 10, 2013. He was about COBB 58 RVAD 2. We are thrilled and so thankful to have found ISOP and Shriner’s. It was defiantly a difficult experience getting his first cast but the support from the families from ISOP and the staff at Shriner’s was invaluable. We felt like we had so much support that helped us get us through.
Rocco has settled with his new life in casts and has bounced back to being the happiest little guy. We have now had four casts and he is currently in a summer brace. We will continue casting this fall. His last numbers where out of cast 36.4 degree top curve and 31.3 degree bottom curve
