Update

"It's all good news." said the doctor.  Belle's bone scan showed that there is no recent stress fracture in her back.  She may have an old stress fracture, but the only way to tell would be a Cat scan and the doctor doesn't feel like she needs to have one since it wouldn't change how he would treat her.  Basically it is rest and physical therapy.  She can do limited activity, but no running.  She is not supposed to arch her back, so no layback spins, and jumping is pretty much out.  So, while it is good news, it still is going to limit her right now. 

Where do we go from here?  Well, I don't think we will be doing regionals this year.  Hopefully the cross country coaches will allow her on the team even though she can't run until at least the end of August.  Hopefully she will be able to come back strong, post some good times and keep getting some calls from college coaches.

I am actually hopeful that at the end of this road we will find some renewed success on the ice and on the road so to speak.  I hope that a true rest will help her skate better, run faster, and most of all feel good while she is doing it.

How is Belle taking it?  She seems upbeat right now.  She got some good news from our rink, she is going to be the recipient of both a skaters and a coaches scholarship to help her fund some training.  We are not sure exactly how she will spend them, but she will be able to take some classes, pay for some training and improve her professional skills with a seminar or 2.  That really helped her feel better during this process.  She probably won't be able to do skating camp in August, but will still be able to skate in the summer show.  Hopefully she will feel up to a couple of private lessons with the guest coaches.  And of course the fact that she got to go by herself to visit Grandmom and my sister and her family has helped her mood as well.  Today she went kayaking on the Rio Grande, hiked up a "mountain" (really more of hill in terms of New Mexico mountains) and was making her aunt and uncle a birthday dinner.  She is going to visit NMSU and UNM.  Hopefully she will skate some in Albuquerque. 

In the end, it really was pretty good news.  Not the best news, which would be a clean bill of health, but still not so bad after all.  Hopefully she will get that clean bill of health next month.