Kyphosis and Scoliosis in 15 year old girl, considering surgery.

[KayKay1554]

My mom and I are trying to find out how bad the recovery will be and what my limitations will be. I have done plenty of research, but still want to know what it is like from somebody who has experienced the surgery.
We are putting in an application to Shriners Hospital. I would like to know this information before I get accepted or rejected.

Please and Thank You.

[nikyergen]

KayKay,
My 16 year old daughter just had surgery for an 88 degree kyphosis curve. Her recovery has been miraculous (sp). We used Shriners Hospital-Portland. We loved the care she got. She came home on day six. And back to school, part-time, 3 weeks post-op. Went to her prom at 4 weeks post-op. Made several long distance business trips she needed to do at 2-3 weeks post-op. Just had a 5 week post-op appointment last week. Dr. was impressed with how she is doing. Part of healing is your mind set. She didn't want to be down, so she pushed herself to recover. The other thing that helped is that she was in excellent physical condition going into surgery. Her body was well turned, right along with her mind. She will tell anyone that surgery was the best decision she has ever made. Her fusion was from T2-L2 with rods. She does wear a brace for additional support of her fusion. I think that has made a difference on how well she has recovered too. She only had one really bad day in the hospital, it was when they were taking her off of the morphine pump and putting her on oral pain meds. But, Shriners was excellent on getting her the best pain relief possible.

'til later,
Nikki

[Mary Lou]

KayKay

My 13 1/2 y.o. daughter had surgery for her Kyphosis and Scoliosis almost five months ago. How's she doing? Great! She is still limited on what she can and can not do, like no running, no lifting more than 5-10 pounds and things like that. She also has a long fusion like Nikki's daughter. She is fused from T3-L2 with two rods. She was in the hospital for six days total are could have returned to school part-time at 3 weeks, but it was Christmas break so she returned at 4 weeks. She was back in school full-time by six weeks. She was off all pain meds, including Tylenol in less than 2 weeks, but some need meds for longer and that's ok, but Jamie has a very high tolerance for pain. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. Good luck.

Mary Lou

[N.S.]

Hello,
I had my surgery when I was 13,now 22 and after the surgery was difficult but after six months I was able to return to my normal activities. Right after the surgery are not that fun but since then I have been able to do everything that I wanted to do with no limitations. If you have any questions I am more the happy to answer them. Good Luck

[matt]

7 months post op

Hi Kayla! How are you? My name is Ross. I am a 15 year old boy from Louisiana. I had surgery in September of last year for Scoliosis (40*) abd Scheuermann's Kyphosis Disease (80*). What Shriners are you applying to? I went to the Shreveport, Louisiana Shriners. The Shriners hospitals are great hospitals. It really isn't like a hospital. Well, the first week in the hospital is pretty rough. I won't lie to you, there is alot of pain, but it "is " controllable with pain medication. The first few weeks at home are quite tough. I came home on the 7th day. We have a 5 hour drive from my home to Shriners, so that day wasn't so good. I went back to school after 7 weeks. I took my bracre off after 3 months and 3 days (you don't forget things like that!lol). I have had a few problems, but these are problems that occur 1 in every 200,000 surgeries. One of the wires in my spine broke, but my surgeon is going to leave it there. And then I have been sick, so my primary physician thinks that my body might be in rejection of my rods in my back, so we have to go to Shriners on Tuesday to see if I'm rejecting. If you have any specific questions, feel free to email me at
hard_roc_child08@hotmail.com
Take care, and good luck! I look forward to hearing from you and keep us posted! Ross