I know – I haven’t written in a while. I’m leaving the blog up because it’s mostly our early story that can be helpful to new Scoliosis patients. We are, thankfully, toward the end of our journey. Our first Scoli child is now 22 and working full-time as a research assistant in some pretty important research that combines pediatrics with psychology. She is thriving almost 10 years post-surgery. She is very active and Scoliosis is now a minor inconvenience in life. Our second Scoli child is now 19, a Sophomore in college and is completely on the tail end of Scoliosis. He loves his video games an ..read more

This post was from Thanksgiving in 2010. So much was different then. My beloved Grandmother was still alive, the kids were young enough to appreciate a hotel with a pool, and the family in general still enjoyed road trips. One thing really rung true with me from this post is how great it felt to just focus on Thanksgiving and NOT on Scoliosis for once. To focus on family and food and togetherness, and let all the other stuff be on hold for just a few days. Here’s to hoping you can have a few days free from Scoli Worry…. This week we actually took a trip that did not revolve around treatments ..read more

This month’s article is a flashback to May 8, 2009 to our son’s fist visit with the Orthopedic specialist. We knew that the “wait and see” approach was not a good approach, and we were ready to go to battle. You can see the article in its entirety HERE. The main focus was how we advocated for our son early on in his Scoliosis battle: We went this morning to the pediatric orthopedic surgeon for my daughter’s checkup and my son’s first visit.  He has a mild case (which we knew), and “C” is holding at a 55degree curve.  It’s a scary level, but they are still not recommending surge ..read more

This month, we are looking back on my post from October 14, 2009 titled “Our new adventure with the Cheneau brace.” This recounts the time of our FIRST visit with Luke, founder of National Scoliosis Center, before National Scoliosis Center existed. He was still working at Orthotic Solutions when we first visited. Working with Luke is still one of the best decisions we made in our Scoliosis journey. Enjoy…. Hello everyone. It’s been a while since I posted, but we’ve been exceptionally busy.  Not only am I working hard to get bodysuits out to the patients who have been contacting me, but I ..read more

I have been writing in this blog for over 12 years. And, although we are looking back on our Scoliosis journey, some of you are just starting. I thought that we would start to take a look at some of the earlier articles I wrote. Many are still completely applicable today as they were then. This is the very first article I wrote in April of 2009. If you are just starting out and can relate, comment below. It was just over a year ago when I first looked at my dripping wet 6-year-old daughter when she got out of the tub and noticed something was not quite right.  Her rib cage looked shifted ..read more

No matter which hemisphere you live in, the hot season is tough on kids (and adults) in Scoliosis braces. After 6+ years with either one or two kiddos in a brace, we developed some strategies to deal with the heat. Granted, we live in Michigan in the United States, where temps are pretty mild in our summer. But, these tips should help no matter where you live. Get an undershirt that is thin, moisture wicking, and comfortable to wear under the brace, with as few wrinkles as possible under the brace. Obviously, for us, that was the undergarments we make at EmBraced In Comfort. Natural fibers fe ..read more

I have been ferociously cleaning out my house this past month and came across a folder tucked in a corner that had a bunch of x-rays from my kids’ many years of Scoliosis checkups. These were not even the digital printouts we are now used to – these were large, old fashioned, x-ray FILMS. I also found a folder of printouts. I had been saving them all because I wanted to be prepared if I needed to go back and check on their progression. I’m not sure how that would have helped – I just felt the need to hold onto the DATA. As I sat there, being brutal in my effort to get rid of stuff everywhere e ..read more

I recently began following a young YouTuber named Savy at her channel Savy Writes Books.  The focus of her channel is writing, talking about business, and reviewing books (including business and self-help books).  I started following her because she was critiquing a few popular self-help books and I appreciated her insight, candor, and understanding of the human condition that she showed through those reviews.  She also talked about her business Furever Home Friends, which she started in 2017.  This business produces books, plushies and other merchandise about real rescue d ..read more

This is a very important topic and a concern that many new patients and their parents worry about. My daughter wrote HER OWN RESPONSE to this question in 2016, but it is definitely worth re-visiting. When my daughter was first diagnosed, the only sport that our Orthotist told us to avoid was gymnastics. Both of my kids were in gymnastics at the time, so we decided to point them in another direction. They were still very young and not heavily invested in the sport. I believe the reason for discouraging gymnastics is that there are so many backbends and twists involved and some specialists feel ..read more

Let me start with something positive: we have launched a brand new website for EmBraced In Comfort. Check us out HERE. Even a “simple” website, however, can take quite some time to move from one web hosting platform to another. This transition took months and it went relatively smoothly, but it is always interesting what little changes spiral out of big ones. First, it’s setting up the site, then it’s realizing that several other things (like email) linked to the web hosting platform, too, not to mention reviews that you’ve been collecting for years. One thing leads to several others and it ca ..read more