My Story By Lauren

My story started in 7th grade when my school was screening for scoliosis. I was told I had about a 15 degree curve and that it should be monitored yearly with x-rays. For whatever reason I didn't get back for 2 years and next thing we knew the curve was about 30-35 degrees. I was braced to see if that could control it. However since I hit puberty late, the brace didn't help at all. By my sophmore year it was 45-50 degrees. And now I was talking to surgeons about screwing metal rods into my spine. Which can be very overwhelming for a teenager. Especially since I was an athlete. I played a sport every season during high school and during summers too. I ran cross country, played water polo and then swam. I played water polo during every summer, and now doctors were telling me I wouldn't be able to do any of that for a minimum of a year. Thankfully we talked to a surgeon who said since I had no back pain (doctors can't figure out why I rarely had pain) that he would wait till my early twenties to perfrom the surgery. So we waited. I found out I was pregnant in May of 2005, and had my son January 2006. In March I went back for a physical and asked my doctor if I could get some updated x-rays of my back. I knew it was time. I had noticed it worsening on my own. Just some little things. Like if I turned to one side, I couldn't breathe as well anymore. My rib cage on one side was starting to stick out more than another. I took the x-rays and recieved a call from an orthopedic surgeon. I saw him and at first he said he would wait on the surgery. Then he went and measuered my x-rays and was shocked to measure a 70 degree curve. He suspected it was changing by 8 degrees a year. He then informed me that it was an urgent surgery and wanted it done before it became an emergency. Which he said it would come to. He said the way my torso was twisting it would suffocate me, by putting too much pressure on my heart and lungs. So my parents re-arranged their work schedules so they could take care of me and my son after surgery.  I had a son who was 7 months and I had a spinal fusion.

My surgery was 10 hours...about 2-3 hours longer than expected. My operating room was filled with doctors, nurses and people from the company who actually made the titanium rods and screws. All were surprised to find my spine was too rigid to set perfectly straight. They woke me up twice during surgery, not that I remember thank God! They would straighten my spine and look at the electrical impulses running down both my left and right sides. and found that when they set my spine perfectly straight my impluses on the right side did not come back up. So they put some of the curve back in. I have a scar almost the entire length of my back, 2 rods and twenty something screws (I forget the exact number). My scar is about 15 inches long. After everything has been done I am so happy to have done it. I am grateful for everyone who worked on me and took care of me. I had the best doctors I could have ever asked for. Surgery has been my biggest fear for as long as I can remember, and they made it so easy.

This is my story. My scar is about 16 inches long.

Thanks for reading.