Newbie on here

[LynetteG]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Lynette, I'm 44 years old, divorced, with two little boys aged 7 and 9.
I recently had an x-ray done just to see where my scoliosis was at, and found out that within 18 months my lumbar curvature went from 72 to 85 degrees, and my thoracic compensatory curve is 45 degrees. So I have a 45/85 spine right now. My doctor advised me it's definitely time to have surgery otherwise once it goes over 90 degrees, he won't be able to correct it as much as he could right now.

Right now, I'm terrified, mostly because I have two little boys who need me as their father is extremely unreliable and not very attentive to the boys. I just want everything to go smoothly and quickly so that I can get on with raising my two little men.

I'm also going through a court battle with my ex right now which makes my life even more stressful.

Anyway, I'm very blessed to have my mum, who has offered to help me with the boys and helping me. I am concerned for her though as she is 77 years old, and I just don't want her to overdo it. We were all involved in a very bad car wreck four years ago, and my mum has never quite been the same since then, and so I worry about her too - as well as everything else!!! As you can see I'm a worrier

I'm hoping that Dr. Moreno will be able to do my surgery if I can get coverage with United Insurance, I will find out by the end of this week probably. Otherwise I will probably have to have surgery in a hospital much further away from my home with Dr. Cronin, this would be out of network with Humana which would mean it will cost me at least $42,000 with them.

Has anyone else my age with my kind of curvatures had this surgery yet? If so what kind of correction did you get, and what was recovery like? Dr. Moreno said that he'd probably work from T9 to the sacrum, and hopes to get me to about 30 degrees or so.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you all on here, you all seem so happy and positive about everything, which is fabulous.

Lynette.

[Vali]

Hi Lynette, Welcome to the forum. My curves were not as large as yours, but i was fused T11-S1. (Knock on wood) I had a relatively smooth and pain free recovery. My surgery went well also. I only lost a litre of blood and had 300ml returned via Cellsaver. I had ICU booked for me, but did not require this either, after recovery i went straight back to my room. The first three months, you really need to go easy and after that, you slowly have restrictions lifted. If you have any specific questions...ask away! The people on this forum are fantastic and always willing to help. Please keep in mind though, that everyones surgery and rate of recovery is different. AS many people on this forum say...KNOWLEDGE IS POWER (or something like that). Keep the questions coming and give your brain a knowledge feast with the previous posts. Seeya round

[RitaR]

Hey, Welcome on board Lynnette. We are glad to have you. Sorry to hear about all your stressors. Your "little men" are very lucky to have you as their mum, I know that for sure! And, they will be very attentive to help you go get things and some little things for you in your recovery period. That will make them feel needed and important. I understand about your concerns with your degree of curve. Right now I am at 90-100 somewhere. Lots of pain, muscle spasms, nerve pain, shortness of breath, decreased lung capacity tremendouly - so I know exactly what you're going through. I'm scheduled to have surgery by Dr. Lenke in St. Louis, MO in July. Some days are easier for me than others. Today has been one of my better days, I guess, but evenings are my worst. I know what you mean, also, about your mum. I have a very supporting family, but I, also, know they are very worried about me, so of course I put on the happy face and try to hide all my discomfort I can - then after they all go home I can moan and groan to my world's best husband and son. I worry about freaking my parents out too much. My father is 80 years old and my mom 70, so I don't want them to worry any more than they already are.

[mbeckoff]

Welcome Lynette

I am Melissa. I am scheduled to have my surgery in 5 weeks from tomorrow

This board is great. Ask any question you need or want to and someone will answer you

Welcome again

Melissa

[LynetteG]

Vali - Thank you so much for your encouragement, I'm so happy for you that all went so nice and smooth for you through your surgery. What kind of correction did you get?

RitaR - Thank you also for your support, sorry to hear about all the pain you're in. Actually even with the severity of my curves, I really don't feel that much pain unless I'm standing more than ten minutes or walking for more than ten minutes. Most people seem so happy after their surgery because they have less pain than before the surgery, my worry is that I'll have more pain after surgery than I do now.

Melissa - Wow your surgery is in five weeks. What kind of curvatures do you have? Are you excited about getting this done, or nervous?

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to prepare your body for nutrition and exercise prior to surgery? I'm probably going to have surgery in approx. three months - not sure though yet, so I'm starting now to try to lose some weight as I'm 20 lbs overweight right now, and practicing my yoga as much as I can, and swimming. I'm also going to listen to hypnosis CD's for pre-op and post surgery. I know a lot of people who've used hypnosis for surgery and they ALL healed quicker and had very little bleeding during surgery - so it's worth a try.

This is such a great site - and everyone here seems to be a great bunch. I'm really looking forward to getting to know everyone

Lynette.

[52skeedoo]

preparing your body for surgery

Welcome to the forum. It's a great place for information and support.

I'm sorry you have so many stressors in your life right now and hope you will find some relief soon.

You asked about nutrition and exercise before surgery. I'm no expert, but I believe that both are important to prepare and have the best outcome. I walked a lot and did a variety of exercises to build endurance and strength but I concentrated the most on gentle stretching for flexibility. With swimming and yoga, it sounds like you are well on your way.

I also wanted to loose some weight but I went about it very carefully and gradually. I think I lost about 1-2 pounds per month before the surgery. I lost some after the surgery and then took care not to put them back on so I'm pretty happy with my weight now.

Best of luck with everything !

Sheri

[Shari]

Welcome to our world Lynnette,

You will feel blessed once you see that you have just arrived in the best place to be, even if you're only contemplating this surgery!!!

We all know how nervous and scared you are, it's natural, and normal. I read this forum for months before I had the guts to get on it, AND WHAT A MISTAKE THAT WAS!!! I could have been getting comfort, support and answers, all those months.

I was 45 when I had mine. Ant & Post surgeries. I'm T-1 to L-5 and there will be a pop quiz in the future.

The one thing I'll say right now is that you may not wan't to loose the extra poundage so soon. For me the surgeries were an automatic weight lose.

Between, lack of appetite from meds and sweatin' in the Turle Shell, you just may want to rethink that.

Again, Welcome and this is only my opinion,

Shari

[JenniferG]

Welcome Lynette. I hope you find all the answers and support you need from this forum. It was a life-saver for me. Good luck!

[LynetteG]

Thank you Sheri, Shari, and JenniferG for all your words of wisdom, some great advice there and much appreciated.

I keep thinking of ways I might be able to somehow manage to get out of surgery, I'm working with an excellent hypnotist right now. The problem is time is of the essence for me right now, and if there is no improvement on my curvatures REAL soon, then a decision has to be made, as I want as much correction as I can get before my curvature gets too large.

I just love my little sons sooo much and they are dreading me having surgery, they've never been away from me more than one night (except one time when their father took them away for three nights), but other than that, they have been with me every day since they've been born, so this is going to be very hard for them, as well as for me. Still, I keep thinking on the positives and the future, how does the old saying go? Short term pain for long term gain

You all seem to have some great successful stories of surgery which is very very encouraging at least for me.

Thank you all again - and God bless to all of you.

Lynette.

[Radiogirl]

Hi Lynette, Nice to meet you and welcome! We are all in the same boat here and you will learn soooo much! I sure have! Can you please tell me more about the hynosis cds for pre and post surgery? I would like to try that. I've been wondering if there is a hynosis and/or meditation cd to listen to to help speed healing after surgery!

[jrnyc]

Hi Lynette
welcome to the forum...it is a great place for both information & support!

i sent you a private message...

jess

[LynetteG]

Laura - for surgery CD's email Debbie Lane - she is the hypnotist I'm seeing right now and she is outstanding. She's shown me through hypnosis how to subside my pain when I feel it coming on. Here is her email address:
contact@wisdomhypnosis.com

Jess - thank you for your personal message, I wrote to you on your other post about visiting Dr. Anand in California. I tried to respond to your personal message but I don't think it worked.

[Vali]

Hi Lynette,
I went from a 58 degree lumbar to 5 degrees post-op. I was doing pilates and aquarobics, up until i think about 2 months before surgery, then the pain was getting too much. The instructor thought it best for me to stop in case i made things worse. I walked everyday ( as i usually did) and continued to eat a healthy diet. Best wishes.