WHY I'M GOING THROUGH ALL THIS

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If you can take it here is a photo of the xray of my spine. It not only twists from side to side in an "S" shape but the whole spine is rotated. The surgery will place a metal rod in my spine and screws will be connected through vertebra into the metal rod. In addition to this they will take some bone from my pelvis and mix it with bone stimulator material. It is pretty amazing that I can be spared being eventually contorted and wheel-chair bound. I am so grateful and willing to go through the long recovery to STAND TALL. They say I should be 2" taller. Thank you for your concern in tangible ways. I feel greatly blessed to have such an incredible support team. I know for a fact, because my doctor tells me this, that I could not go through all this without Doug, Carissa and my supporters.

THE JOURNEY TO SURGERY - December 18

After my early years of dealing with scoliosis, I thought it was behind me forever.  In those early years I had many uncertainties, the biggest being that I would be unable to bear children it it didn't stop it's progression.  I am forever grateful (now) for those horrible high school months of wearing a smelly and unsightly plaster cast extending from my arm pits to my hip bones.  I was looked on as weird to say the least.

In the past few years some telltale signs began appearing.  I was getting shorter (2").   My lower back ached daily, my balance was off.  I had no idea it was the 'ol scoliosis again.  I have spent the last few years working on "winning" over these maladies. I finally ended up at the Emory Spine Clinic and the xrays showed my spine increasing in its curvature.  I now have an "S" shaped curve with 2 curves, each at 67 degrees.  I has progressed about 2 degrees with each quarterly visit.  The last visit in September determined that my spine was marching on collapsing on itself which would eventually lead to its collapsing on my lungs and heart.     I had prayed that the decision for surgery would be simple.  It was.   There is no other way to stop what is happening.

How do I feel about this?  At first I was in denial.  I sought to do everything physical to avoid surgery.  I spent time weekly with an excellent physical therapist who specializes in fragile backs.  I have hired a personal Pilates trainer to strengthen my core muscles surrounding the spine.  I swim 2x week.  I work on cardio and other strength training at the gym 4x week.  I lost weight.  I gave it all I knew to do BUT it did not  change what was happening.  SO - the decision was made easy and I am at peace about having something so massive.

What do I mean by massive?  The surgery is 12 hours and time in hospital looks to be 12 days.  Recovery - long.  I am told that to get back to "normal" is 12 months.

This blog is to give you a window into what our family has ahead.  I do not want to waste this whole thing on just getting through but want to learn a lot of things through the process.

The blog is for people to post their words to us and for us to post our words of "where we are"  along the way.  Thank you for joining me on this unique journey.

...Cheryl

Surgery plans - the long view

One of my strong memories from childhood is lining up every few months beside Mom and leaning forward as her fingers carefully massaged our spines and checked for good alignment in the vertebrae. Mom was touched by scoliosis as a child and spent a year of high school in a full body cast. Throughout my childhood, she was vigilant in making sure that her children did not have to deal with the same disease.

After staying dormant for most of her adult life, Mom's scoliosis is back. She has researched treatments exhaustively and has logged countless hours in non-surgical alternatives (pilates, stretching, physical therapy, etc.). A few weeks ago, she met with a well-known specialist in Atlanta who does corrective surgery for scoliosis patients like Mom. After a close examination of her medical history and current X-rays, he made it clear that if left untreated, the scoliosis will continue to cause problems for her — namely, chronic pain and breathing difficulties. She has already lost two inches of height in the past year as her spine has compressed more and more.

Major surgery is scheduled for December 18 here in Atlanta. The surgery takes about 10 hours and involves placing composite rods in the spine and then doing a bone graft from the pelvis to solidify the repair. Patients are in the hospital for ten days and then have months of rehab. The surgery is not going to be fun. At the same time, I know that Mom is looking forward to regaining her lost height, and picking up a good medical reason for elegant posture.

This week we found out some great news. After going through a battery of tests at Emory, Mom was told by her doctor that they can complete the surgery in one pass instead of breaking it into two surgeries, several days apart. This was a huge answer to prayer. It will mean less expense, a shorter hospital stay, less potential for complications, etc.

We look forward to seeing Mom stand tall again.

posted by Carissa