We have these next two days before Anni's spine surgery. We've already played out the game of "we wish we did" and replayed the woulda-coulda-shoulda in our heads.

The day we noticed Anni's unusual curves, the first thing to come to my mind was, "Oh my gosh...it looks like mom's tweaked back." It put us in a bit of a panic because my mom is having joint issues and I didn't want Anni to have problems, assuming that she was putting a lot of weight on that side. The next move was to have her checked out. Maybe she was just a little too rough in play and screwed up her back. Surely, a little physical therapy could help her out.

Instead, we find she has Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. According to our research, only a small percentage of the population gets scoliosis–roughly 2%–of which are mostly females. Annika falls into the most common form called idiopathic scoliosis. It simply means that the cause is unknown except for a seeming constant that otherwise healthy children whose families have a history of this condition are at higher risk of developing this curvature.

While some scoliotic spines can be addressed by simple monitoring and observation–if the curves are smaller than 20º–others progress to a degree that requires bracing to prevent progression. In Anni's case, her curvature is already in excess of 50º with a likelihood of quick and continued progression since she still has a lot of growth left. The course of treatment is spinal fusion surgery. Bracing will not work given the severity of her curvature. Growing rods were also presented to us as an alternative to delay the inevitable fusion surgery. We weren't hip on that idea.

To my knowledge, scoliosis screening is no longer done in the schools. It is left to parents to monitor this and the general health of their children. It's unfortunate that we aren't well-educated about scoliosis. We are drilled about immunization and flu shots, warned against drugs and sexual deseases but because scoliosis is not a "widespread" condition, I guess it's just left in the marginal bliss of ignorance. Personally, I think a 1 in 50 odds is not a rare enough condition to be ignored.

Here are a few good websites for information about scoliosis:

Understanding Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

Scoliosis Research Society

iScoliosis.com

Mark Twain wrote, "Golf is a good walk spoiled." There are days when I have to admit that it sure feels like a pull-your-hair-out experience when you can't hit or putt worth a damn. But when you see your drives reach 200 yards, it makes you want to keep on going! And then there's the occasional surprise when you are playing along and a deer runs across the fairway.


Jud's parents stopped by for a nice visit and we went to the creamery for some gelatos. I have to keep cleaning the house but I think I'll go for a 9-hole round to ease the stress. It's beautiful today (finally). The snow-capped mountains are a great background and the sun is out. There's just a few wisps of clouds above and a bit of a breeze.

It's September 10th and it's been in the 50's these past few days ... and there is snow on the mountains. Yeah, it sucks but Anni loves it. She says she misses winter. I mean, really???

I am not interested in seeing it this early. Anni wanted to take pictures of our drive over Teton Pass on the way to Jackson. The peak is shrouded in clouds and a light drizzle has fallen. The white stuff has landed on the higher elevations.  Let this be just a momentary aberration because I am not ready to tackle a winter season just yet.

Okay, the trip over this huge pass is always impressive no matter what the season. At 8431 feet in elevation, it's white-knuckle driving in the winter (we've run right into an avalanche at one point) and slow in the summer (it sucks to be the one behind an RV or semi-truck). Passing can be a dicey experience.

But it's good to have Anni on the passenger side because she makes sure I'm not doing any crazy stuff. Like staring at the puffy clouds on the mountains instead of the road.

We've clocked a lot of miles in the last few weeks. I may be exhausted from all the appointments and the seemingly endless runs over this pass but Anni is downright sick and bored of the whole thing.

One final set of appointments out of the way and all we need to do now is just relax before the big day. She only had a few questions to ask Dr. Beck, trooped through the blood draw with the admitting nurse at SJMC, toured the hospital and now just wants to spend the weekend, presumably doing nothing. Does she look like she cares at this point?

So here's this girl...had no idea I had such a cute, smart and slightly "twisted" little baby. And I mean twisted in more ways than one. She is now on Facebook (a little too much if you ask me) and she's constantly saying odd things both on and off. Take these pictures for example:


Cute and cuddly girl creates "Bob" the ball next to her with hair made of moss who then gets kak'd and transforms to "Steve" who then ... well, not sure what the rest of the story is exactly. She has these fascinating little stories. Then there's the constant name changes on her FB profile. I think she's currently Annika Frito Lay Tolman. Last week, she was Doritos, Amethyst Sunstone prior to that I think, and AJ before that among others. Can't wait to see who she'll be next week. Maybe She'll be Choco Anni.


The other "twist" in Anni is on her body–specifically, her spine. A few weeks ago, we noticed something that we had never seen before.  I suppose I could say that it just "grew" overnight but you'll probably laugh at me. I did go back to old pics I took and noticed that her posture was starting to tweak to the right by summer of last year (shown in a July '09 vacation shown with her bro in 100º+ heat on the Las Vegas Strip–don't they look like they're enjoying the baking sun?) but not enough that I would have given it a second thought. She certainly didn't have the noticeable rib hump that is so prominent now on the right posterior side of her spine.


On August 20th, we met with Dr. Joshua Beck at Teton Orthopaedics in Jackson. We were previously told by a RN-P that Anni had scoliosis but to what degree, we didn't know. Anni's x-rays showed an s-curve scolio deformity with a 21º curvature on the bottom and a 50º curvature along the upper thoracic vertebrae. A second consult at PCMC with another surgeon confirms a slightly larger curvature above 50º based on his own measurement. So here's the skinny: I'd give you all the medical lingo but it comes down to a diagnosis called Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS)...a rather pompous name of a condition for which they know the who but they haven't a clue about the why.


These past several weeks have been a mad rush of research, phone calls, consultations, doctors visits, tests and the necessary second opinion. But the long and the short of it is–and I quote the second surgeon–you don't get to choose your parents (it's genetic) and you don't get to choose when and to what degree it's going to happen to you (she's only 11). Both surgeons agree that her only course of treatment is corrective spinal fusion surgery. We've chosen to stay with Dr. Beck for the procedure. We have a good feeling about him and we find comfort in our ability to quickly communicate with him and his staff. Her surgery is scheduled for this coming Tuesday, September 14th at 7:30 a.m. We would WELCOME AND APPRECIATE your prayers and thoughts for her.


On a side note, this wonder girl turned 11 yesterday. I rather thought she had great Karma on her birthday. She brought cookies to her class, got some really cool earrings from us, won a very pretty purple leather purse at my fitness club's raffle prize drawing, bought pretty nail polish and got lots of love of from her mommy and daddy. You'd never know it but Colter's just waiting to get a slice out of that birthday cake. Silly boy! We love you both!!!!

Well, I've really left the family blog on the backburner for a while haven't I? Summer (what little of it arrived this year) has come to a close and I can only hope for a reasonable Fall. Surely, that's not too much to ask? Football officially starts tonight with the Vikings playing against the Saints. Maybe Bret Favre will just keep skidding along until he's carried off the field on a stretcher. He's graying but he's back.


Seriously, I could leave football behind...like really far behind...but the Judster isn't going to let his favorite teams go unseen this season so I have to just go with the flow. I guess I'll just have to recap the more entertaining parts of the last few months to pass the time in the next few months. I'm working on compiling and archiving a lot of our memories so I can digitize them which also means that I am taking the role of family photo-biographer rather seriously. I am taking SO many pictures that I think the kids are protesting but I don't doubt that they're going to thank me later. Take our 2010 summer vacation, for starters. We went to San Diego again. We really like that place (not that I would live there) at least for a visit.



So we came home to find the tail end of summer upon us. It's a month later and chilly today. Not my ideal September weather but when you live here, you simply have to find a way to deal with it. We've gathered the wood (well, okay–Jud gathered the wood) for the fireplace this winter, we picked our wild huckleberries to hopefully last us until the next fall harvest, and enjoyed a nice Labor Day weekend campout at Grassy Lake last week. I had forgotten how much fun camping can be. Thank goodness the mosquitoes were hardly a bother.


Yeah...it was STILL a good summer!