Shriner's Hospital, Spokane

I had to drive back to Spokane for Caden's appointment at Shriner's Hospital for Children, Spokane on Tuesday, March 6. His appointment was early Tuesday morning so we drove up late Monday night and spent the night with my sister. Again, I have to say, I am so grateful to have a place to stay when we go up for doctor's appointments!

It's kind of hard to see, due to the lighting at 

this time of day, but this is Shriner's in Spokane

We had just seen the orthopedic doctor at Shriner's in Sacramento before we moved in December and he thought we didn't need to be seen for another year or two. But because we moved and we wanted to establish ourselves with the new doctors, we went ahead and had the referral sent so we could start right away.

Caden wanted to ride the carousel horse in the
waiting room and he asked me to take his picture!

Caden started with x-rays of his spine to see how the scoliosis looked. I also brought digital copies of his last x-ray from Sacramento as well as the MRI of his spine from November 2010. They were very happy to have those to compare to. The doctor wasn't overly concerned about Caden's spine right now. But when I mentioned we were starting growth hormone therapy, he said that is when they really want to monitor him closely. He said it is during periods of rapid growth that the scoliosis can accelerate and become more severe. So he wants to see Caden back in six months.

While we waited in the exam room for the doctor to come in, Caden occupied himself by reading a book about trees, as well as using the exam table as a slide. I thought it was very thoughtful of the designers of the tables to think about that as a secondary use for small children! ;)

It wasn't a very long appointment so we were out of there relatively early in the day. But that gave me time to run some errands in the “big” city, and have lunch with my sister before driving back home. It was a good trip and I was glad to see the ortho doc before starting the growth hormones. Now I know what we need to watch out for.