The Sewing Place
The Emporia => The Show Must Go On => Topic started by: MitchOfTheNorth on December 18, 2018, 10:37:02 AM
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Well, in true the show must go on style, I need suggestions for what to sew for my "broken" dancer, DD1. My initial plans were to make up several pieces - shorts, pants, leotards, tops - out of several lovely coordinating lycras. Back in October, she and another dancer collided in rehearsal - head to head - and knocked themselves out. Both girls had to withdraw from classes at university and DD1 won't be returning for the spring semester (I don't think the other girl will be returning either). She has compression of the cervical spine, constant nausea & motion sickness (her balance is off), noise sensitivity and minor vision issues. She is supposed to exercise but not raise her heart rate above 100 bpm & they're concerned about her low blood pressure (which we've known about for a decade). Today's visit to the concussion clinic brought the recognition of cognitive issues as well. She looks fine but she can't really do much - she's too sick to go to the club or bar with her friends - the lights & noise make her symptoms worse. Truth be told, I really have no idea when she will be able to return to her life or dance. I don't want to make her feel worse by gifting her something that she can't use and will only remind her of what she is missing.
Christmas pajamas are already underway. But honestly, I'm confused as to what else to make for her.
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Couldn't read and run.
Sending good wishes for your DD. Scary how much damage colliding with another person could do.
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So sorry to hear about your daughter, I hope she improves soon, poor girl.
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That sounds terribly worrying, I hope she gets better very soon.
How old is she? Would something for her bedroom be appropriate?
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Poor thing, it must be miserable for her and worrying for you. Could you make a storage caddy for her to keep various bits and pieces (phone, headphones, book, meds, etc) next to her in bed or on the couch and make it easier to carry everything from one room to the next.
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@MitchOfTheNorth, what a worry for you, best wishes for a good recovery for her. It sounds like one of life's 'hasten slowly' moments.
@StitchinTime that is an excellent idea.
As a variation on that, when my adult daughter was on crutches I made her an apron with pockets to carry things in. I just found a funky style on line & made it in material she liked.
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Oh @MitchOfTheNorth your poor DD :'( Didn't want to read and run. I hope she has a speedy recovery and is soon back to uni and dancing.
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Your poor daughter! I do hope she will soon be on the road to recovery. I would go with the suggestions to make something for her bedroom, or bits and pieces. Nothing dance related.
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Bless her heart. How awful for a young woman to go through that. Here's to a speedy recovery for both of the girls.
I think bedroom accessories sound good, including maybe a bed jacket in case she is spending time propped up in there resting.
Actually, I think those garments you listed might still be a good idea. She is supposed to exercise, right? Not needing to wear garments already associated with dance might be good for morale. Maybe just the shorts, pant and tops, skip the leotard for mow. Just some nice exercise clothing.
The healing will take time. It'll be 2 years Christmas Eve that I hit my head with no loss of consciousness. Cat related incident with me coming up under a shelf-thought I was clearing it. Even such a minor concussion caused several months of problems with continual neck pain. Are they treating the neck compression with any physical therapy? That's what's finally given me relief. Saw him yesterday in fact. He does mild neck traction and stretching on me and it's been a huge help. I was having balance and vision issues if I tilted my head back and that's mostly gone now. Worth consideration for the future during her recovery.
I wish you all the best with this.
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How about some funky yoga pants she would wear anytime. Hope she's soon up and about. She must feel as if her life has stopped - I know that's how I felt when I broke my back and couldn't dance for months.
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Thank you all for your well wishes and concern. StitchinTime, I think I'll go with your suggestion and make her a caddy. And RenegadeSewist, the bed jacket idea reminds me that I have pink (her favorite colour) stretch fleece hiding in my sewing room. Our medical system has a few flaws - unfortunately, adequate concussion care is on that list - even emergency room doctors are sadly under-educated. DD1 is a patient at a private concussion clinic - she sees them once a week for physiotherapy for her neck and specialized therapies for her other problems. We know about the clinic because 2 1/2 years ago, she suffered her first serious concussion. We have been there and done this before.
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We have been there and done this before.
Blimey @MitchOfTheNorth . I worry about my boy playing rugby, who knew dancing was as dangerous!
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I am sorry to hear about your daughter, Ive had a lot of sports injuries in recent years and have been in out of sports and changing sports and stuff.
you could go down the 4 way stretch knits/technicals fabrics (amazing for any exercise) and relaxed yoga styles - then if she is doing light exercise (slow dance, yoga, relaxed free weights, natural movement that sort of thing) they'll be suitable but she can also use them as comfy wear. I'd maybe leave the leotards but that would depend on you gauging her mood, but the other items sound great.
Also does she own a 'fitness tracker' I got a fitbit Charge 2 and I have to say I love it - i track my food and drink and steps and exercise types, times and burn on it, but handily in this situation it also has my heart rate on it (68 currently) and you can check it with a flick of the wrist.
All the best,
R.
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I've been busy offline this holiday season. She was very happy with her gifts.
Missie, dance can definitely be hazardous as dancers advance. This is her third dance related concussion - the first 2 weren't serious. The first she was kicked in the head with a tap shoe (steel taps) during recital (a full audience). She stood up and kept dancing. The second she hit her head on the floor when she pushed off the floor from a laying position and didn't catch herself as she came back down.
Roger, she got herself a fitbit alta. Unfortunately, even with keeping a tight check on her heart rate, she made herself really ill for 3 days after she went to the gym for some light exercise. My instincts tell me that this is going to be a longer recovery than her last one which took 4 months.
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I have only just caught up with this thread, and do hope your daughter makes progress in her recovery.
About 20+ years ago now I had a nasty fall resulting in my hitting my head against a heavy fence post and shed wall (blood pressure was apparently sky high) and the fence post left quite an indentation on my forehead. I was away for the weekend celebrating my parents diamond wedding anniversary, so by the time I got home and got to see my GP my blood pressure was still extremely high, and the following day after seeing the GP I ended up with black eyes – quite scary. However nothing else showed up, then gradually little things happened, all unconnected but unexpected. The result five years later I awoke in the middle of the night and found the room spinning around me and I was falling into a permanent black hole (no street lights where I live) That was scary and the result of many tests and an MRI showed that half of my balance mechanism no longer works. Even now I wobble a lot, have given up driving as I do not like the constant turning of my head, vertical lines bother me a lot, travelling on motorways is horrible, I cannot fly or travel by train and even the TV sometimes bothers my head. I have a lump the size of a large grape that comes up in my neck and is rather painful at times, this is the result of holding my head off centre and the muscles have gone into a spasm. I have had to train my remaining balance to work for both sides, and even now some 17 years later from the balance finally giving up on one side I get caught out, and if I am not careful I end up with Vertigo and that is absolutely horrible as I cannot stand and do not wish to drop to the floor.
Obviously I am a lot older than your daughter and nothing can be done to correct my balance, but hopefully as your daughter is still quite young there is hope that given time and physio she will recover but may take time. Bangs on the head are not at all pleasant and as for concussion well that is another matter altogether.
I wish your daughter well, encourage her to takes things easy when she has to and allow her to follow her instincts – time is a great healer.
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How's she getting along? Improving?
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Elnnina, thank you for sharing your experiences - I'm so sorry that you've having such a difficult time. It's hard to understand how some of us fall & get up with no ill effect and others are impacted for the rest of their lives. My DD1 has found that since she looks fine, people don't understand how badly injured she is.
DD1 is finally making progress - she's allowed to get her heart rate up to 120 bpm. And she got to spot her head and make 5 slow turns! Her physiotherapist is talking about setting goals - no wild rolling around on the floor yet (her true love is contemporary/modern) but perhaps a return to the barre. She has an offer to attend a uni ballet class on a 'as able' basis. Her uni courses are limited to an online course on labour studies - she's finding that she needs more time for writing. Her school has an access center to help students with disabilities whether permanent or temporary. She has some cognitive issues but hopefully those will clear as her balance returns - constant nausea for 3 months can't be good for concentration. Her school has also improved their emergency response protocols due to her accident and the death of a student at the main campus.
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Thank you for keeping us up to date. Good to hear she is making progress however slowly and that she is getting help and support from the university.
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I thought I should update on how DD1 is doing. She started making real progress in January. She's gone to the uni ballet class - only doing about half. She said it felt weird and good at the same time after so long without being able to move. I finally got to bring her home last weekend and she's back at work in an office full time - she's home until school starts in September. She only needs to be at the clinic every other week.
She's doing well emotionally now. Just like last time, she's planning on grabbing every opportunity that she can. She's now thinking that she'll do an honours dance degree as she'll only need to add 1 extra course to her last 2 years & possibly adding a labour studies minor. There is an internship in the works. And she's thinking of going to Europe next summer for a dance intensive.
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That's fantastic news @MitchOfTheNorth . Well done to your daughter.
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thats great news Mitch!
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That is good news, Mitch <3
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Coming late to this thread it's quite a read. I'm delighted to hear of your daughter's progress @MitchOfTheNorth . All of us with dancing daughters (or granddaughters) have to read this with our own hearts in our mouths.
She sounds one very determined and focussed young woman who deserves the greatest of success and personal satisfaction from here on in - she's had more than her quota of physical challenges already. :)
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Thank you all for your well wishes. And I have even better news - she was tentatively cleared at her last visit. Happy dances and sighs of relief all around. She'll get her return-to-play letter after she completes a new baseline assessment in late August. So, now it's physical reconditioning which she is in charge of.
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@MitchOfTheNorth that is fantastic news!