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Dr. Says No Surgery At 50!

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  • Dr. Says No Surgery At 50!

    I’ve posted here several times and again thank everyone for their support.

    Here are my basic stats before I go ahead with my question:
    Male, 17 (just turned)
    Thoracic Curve at 50
    Kyphosis (moderate curve)
    Currently Wearing Brace
    Live in Canada (Toronto)
    *Wearing brace for about 4 yrs; curved reduced by 20 degrees (from 70 to 50)

    In any event, I just spoke to my ortho and she said that she’s actually leaning toward the NON-surgical route. I have absolutely no pain, rib hump is there but it is not killing me and you can barely see anything wrong with me; no limitations whatsoever.

    She said that I will be finishing brace treatment sometime this year and that in my case, she isn’t too enthusiastic about the surgery since it WAS reduced from 70 and since I am not in pain, she said that she doesn’t think that surgery would be a good idea for me.

    We talked a little about minimally invasive techniques (surprisingly they do this in Canada!) but because of the kyphosis there would be much more than 3 small scars, so that wouldn’t be a good idea for me – I’m not exactly sure why.

    Long story short, she said that surgery is a bitch; complications are very rare but when it does happen you are basically SCREWED! You do NOT want to have nerve damage or a broken rod in your spine!

    From what I understand, if she was going to be doing the surgery…she would be going to maximum L1…I don’t know how much that would limit me, but I do know that she said that I would be able to do EVERYTHING that I am right now.

    Just on another note, I though this was very weird lol --- the ex-ray person was an asian chick, all 3 secretaries at the clinic upstairs, the doctor itself, the brace specialist AND the physiotherapist! JEEZ lol!

  • #2
    Bill,
    I think it's great that you don't need the surgery. If you were my son I would say to wait also. My son will be 20 in May and I just had the surgery almost a year ago. You are to young to possibly have things limiting your activities. My son just got back from spring break, visiting his sister in Colorado. He had a great time snowshoeing and skiing. He has also gotten into climbing. He played baseball all through high school and that limited his other activities. He loves to mountain bike also, but we didn't encourage those things because we didn't want him to hurt his throwing arm. He was a catcher. After knowing what I am going through with recovery, and now another surgery in 2 months I'm glad you're waiting. I have followed your posts hoping that you would wait. I have had scoliosis all my life, along with a hugh rib hump, I had my surgery last year because my curves and pain had been increasing the last 7 to 8 years. Take care and enjoy your life and don't worry about your scoliosis until you have to.
    Theresa

    April 8 & 12, 2004 - Anterior/Posterior surgery 15 hours & 7 hours
    Thorasic - 79 degree down to 22
    Lumbar - 44 degree down to 18
    Fused T2 to sacrum
    June 2, 2005 - Pedicle subtraction osteotomy @L3 7 hours
    MAY 21, 2007 - Pedicle subtraction osteotomy @ L2, extended the fusion to S2 and added pelvic instrumentation 9 hours

    FUSED T2 - SACRUM 2

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    • #3
      Heya Billz,

      I'm in similar and the opposite situation as you. From my last visit 11/16/2004 to the scoliosis specialist at BC Children's Hospital, i asked about surgery option and they say first of all they won't do it because backthen by the time you are on the waiting list for surgery i would be 18. According to Canadian Laws, Children's Hospitals only treat patients up to 17 years of age.
      As well, they say that if you have kyphoscoliosis, the fusion rate is not very good which is true.
      My degrees:
      Thoracolumbar curve
      47 Thoracic Curve
      Extremely Lordoscoliotic/Lordosis, Kyphotic/Kyphosis,
      Lumbar Kyphosis
      ??? degrees but if the radiology report says extremely lordoscoliotic it should mean my kyphosis is high as well. Since lkyphosis is curve in curve and lordosis is curve out curve. So high lordosis=high kyphosis..

      I was borned with congenital kyphoscoliosis due to L4-L5 verbetrate failure to divide/fused abnormality. Although from being a baby to like 14 years of my life i had a straight normal spine i guess puberty or some other reasons triggered the effect.

      Since I'm already 18, i'm seeing Dr. Marcel Dvorak(adult spine surgeon) in a few months. He is well known and one of the best spine specialists in Canada.
      Well, my previous doctor recommended me spinal fusion with instrumentation but it would be hard since he has to do both scoliosis in middle part of spine and kyphosis in lumbar spine then even perhaps thoracoplasty to remove the massive rib hump. Since the surgery is also dealing with lumbar vetebrates the fusion rate of the bone chips they do in the fusion is not good, studies say about 50% chance.

      Well, enough of my story, back to yours.
      My recommendations are to ask your doctor to let you see an adult spine specialist if you are currently attending a Children's Hospital specialist.
      Use Shriners Hospital only as your last hope. You can apply for Shriners and get accepted as long you applied before your 18th birthday. They will serve you until 21 years old. However, it is best to find a local doctor in your area.
      If there's any problems, and you need a revision surgery after you're 21 years old it is going to be more tough and time consuming as you will have to look around.

      If you want i can even give you Dr. Marcel Dvorak's contact information. He also has done spinal revision surgeries. However, he is located in Vancouver, BC so you'd have to fly over here. Your current specialist has to refer you to him as he needs reference letter directly from your specialist. As well he first has a waiting list for an appointment even longer than other scoliosis specialists. For me, my doctor referred me to him on 11/16/2004. I received a waiting list notice in the email in like 01/15/2005 saying to wait approximately 6 months.

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