Although my curve was not severe enough for surgery, my friend Emma's 60 degree curve made her a candidate for spinal fusion surgery. She, just like me, was diagnosed with a mild curve and was told that it was no big deal, to monitor it, and to go home. Unlike me, however, Emma's curve drastically worsened during the time of observation, and she was forced to turn to surgery. I had the chance to interview her about her experience; below is her account of her journey with scoliosis, surgery, and the road to recovery. I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was 11 years old. I had a 18 degree curve and was told by the doctor that it was common and not to worry about it. My mom asked if there was anything we could do to prevent it from getting worse, but they said they would monitor it and let us know if we needed to take action. The following year, I noticed a dull pain in my back whenever I came home from school and had an x-ray done, but the doctor didn’t let us know if the curve worsened, so we assumed everything was okay. However, when I was 13, the doctor said my curve was at 45 degrees and that I needed surgery. Prior to my surgery, I went to see a surgeon who recommended various tests and appointments to check my blood, vision, and other things that could potentially affect how the operation went. We also saw the surgeon for pre-op appointments where he took more x-rays to determine where the best place would be to insert the rods. Right before the surgery, my curve progressed to around 60 degrees. I remember being super doubtful before the surgery and wondering if the process was even worth the money and the risk, but at that point the back pain I was experiencing was so great that I was willing to do anything to make it go away.
Immediately following the surgery, I was still in a lot of pain because of nerve/muscle damage from the incision, so I was under a lot of painkillers. After the surgery, I felt helpless since I couldn’t really do anything on my own. While I was still in the hospital, I had to be turned every so often when I was lying down since I wasn’t allowed to lie flat on my back, and every time I moved, I was scared that I would mess something up. The nurses also helped me to walk around the floor at least twice a day to help speed up the recovery process. Additionally, I was on pain medication which helped with the pain (obviously), but also took away my appetite. I stopped medication when I went home, about a week after the operation, and it took me about 3 weeks to actually feel better. I had to go back to school after a month, but because my back was still recovering, I wasn’t allowed to carry more than 10 pounds at a time. Now, it has been a year and a half and I’m pretty much back to normal- I’m pretty much pain free, and can do basically everything I could do before the surgery. Even though the whole process was kind of terrifying, I would definitely do it again because, in the end, it dramatically decreased the pain I was in as well as benefited my state of being.
0 Comments
|
Archives
October 2019
Categories |