Anyone Want To Talk?

[Chrissi]

Hi. if anyone wants to talk about anything, I am here for you. I am 15 yars old, and had surgery for adolescent ideopathic scoliosis four years ago. If you have any questions, I will do my best to try and answer them to the best of my knowledge. I hope to hear from you soon!

[Chrissi]

If nobody wants to talk, then I guess that I will have to talk to myself. Doesn't that sound like fun? *sigh*

[CurvySAT05]

i will talk...i dont know what about though. so...hows the weather???

[katayoun]

hi

Hi. if anyone wants to talk about anything, I am here for you. I am 15 yars old, and had surgery for adolescent ideopathic scoliosis four years ago. If you have any questions, I will do my best to try and answer them to the best of my knowledge. I hope to hear from you soon!

yes ,I have some question,
how big was your curve ,how are you now.thanks

[mumof5]

Hi Chrissi,
It does take a little while for people to reply to posts. Unlike a lot of 'teen' forums where you can get a reply in minutes.
Please tell us a little about yourself, like what your curves were, what they are now, when you were diagnosed, how you are now, what sort of fusion you have etc...
Best wishes
Cheryl

[mumof5]

Amanda,
Why did you have the rod removed? How is it now?
Best wishes
Cheryl

[Chrissi]

Hi

I am a sophomore at Wilson High in Long Beach California. At the time, my curves were around 58 deg. upper and 52 deg. lower. Now I believe that my curves are around 20 deg. I learned that I had scoliosis in December 2001. I had my surgery on Feb. 6, 2002. I was fused from L3 all the way to the top. Now, I am doing great. Thanks for asking. As for sports, I am still very limited. I am on the golf team at my school. I still cannot participate in any contact sports, i.e. football, soccer, hockey. During the summer when I went for my check up, I had some xrays done. My doctor told me that one of my screws is sitting right next to my spinal chord. It is practically in it. He said that if anything were to happen that would make it go into my cord, I could become paralyzed, so I have been working on staying out of trouble.

[mumof5]

Chrissi considering your age, what has your growth been like?
Cheryl

[Chrissi]

great!

My growth has been great. Before the surgery, I was 5'5. Right after I was 5'6. Since then, I have grown to be 5'11.

[CurvySAT05]

I had the one of the rods removed because it was sitting on a nerve. Everyone is different and I guess I have a nerve in an odd place. It caused my right lung not to expand all the way and for me to lose most range of motion in my right shoulder. I am doing wonderfuly now. I am going to be 5 weeks post op in 33 min and am back at school. I am gradually increasing my time spent out of bed and getting back into "normal" things like raising my arm in class (you really dont know how much you use it until you lose function of it). Hopefully soon I will be able to swim. I am going to try talking my ortho into letting me go on an eliptical trainer to increase my cardio without impact.

I am really close to long beach. I go to school in Costa Mesa. There is a scoli support group in Irvine. We have a meeting tomorrow night. I just found out about the orange county chapter last week. I am planning on going to the meeting. If you want info on it let me know.

Mandy

[samantha_lynn]

Chrissi--

You continued growing after the initial spurt after your sugery?
How is this possible? My doctor said I wasn't going to. I went from 5'2 to 5'4 and apparently I'm at 5'4 forever... Maybe that's just me, but I assumed it just wasn't possible.

-Sam

[ScoliChick]

I am glad you are here to answer my questions. It makes me feel better knowing what is going to happen through all this. What sort of pre-op stuff did you have to do? What would you say was the hardest thing throughout the whole surgery ordeal and what have you leard most from it? How did you deal with the pain form the surgery? From where to where were you fused and how long is your scar? Thanks so much for the help i do appreciate it.

[Chrissi]

Sierra's Questions

Hi Sierra,
Pre-Op: I had to have my blood drawn so the doctors could use it if they needed it during my surgery. I learned as much as I could about scoliosis, so I would know what I was getting myself into. I did as much fun stuff as I could since I knew that I would not be doing anything for a long time.
The Rest: I would have to say that the hardest thing throughout the whole surgery would have to be the recovery. It was very hard. If I didnt have my family there with me, I would have been a mess. I have learned to accept and embrace it. It is a good feeling to know that I am special because scoliosis is rare, and having the surgery is even rarer. I delt with the pain by taking lots of medicine and resting as much as I could. I was fused all the wat to the top. I only have last two vertibre on the bottom that are not fused. My scar starts just below my neck and ends just above mu bottom. I hope that this info helps. If you have anymore questions dont be afraid to ask. Good luck with your surgery in March!

Love Always, Christine

[Chrissi]

samantha lynn's question

hey samantha lynn,
I am not really sure how I kept on growing. Maybe I wasnt done with my growth spurt.

Love Always, Christine