took a picture of my xray...

[green m&m]

I took a picture of my xray today... my curves are throcolumbar 49 degrees with 31 lumbar. It's not the best quality.. my digital camera isn't that great and I had to tweak the image so the spine stands out. That resulted in lost of image quality.

My T10 and T11 vertebraes are wedged and I don't think you can see it, but my 12th rib is teeny tiny.

[The Professor]

x-ray

I can't really even see the 12th rib. That T11 looks a bit abnormal on the convex side (as far as I can tell from the pic), any comments from the doc on it?

[green m&m]

My T10 and T11 are wedged(partial unilateral failure formation or something), which my doctor believes was the cause of my scoliosis, not due to my scoliosis. I agree with him on that. My medical history indicates the wedged vertebraes were there from birth so its unlikely that they becamed wedged due to my curvature.

The two are also most noticeably rotated, so there's a sharp change before/after the two vertebraes since T9 and T12 basically do not have much rotation.

The 12th rib is faintly visible when you have the xray in front of you...so I didnt think it'd show up on the pic.

[katblack]

Will you be getting surgery for this soon or not yet or not at all?

A way to get good images of your xrays is to scan them with a scanner. That's how I do most of mine.

[green m&m]

No surgery yet... But my doctor said I will need correction at some point in my life. I'll probably consider doing it in 10 years.. unless there's a major progression before.

I figure..wait any longer and my doctors gonna start getting too old :-p. Not that I'm doubtful of skills of a well seasoned surgeon, but after observing some orthopedic surgeries.. I just want someone still physically 'in prime' to operate on me.

My scanner is old and I have to start up my OS 9 to use it,..so I rarely use the thing unless I absolutly have to.

[The Professor]

oh, I see it now

A bit of adjustment to the monitor, and now I see that 12th rib. Looks small, as you said. I can also see what you were talking about with the rotation on T11/T12.

As for surgery, one thing to keep in mind is that the recovery time will increase as you age, so if you have it in 10 years, it will take you longer to get back on your feet and back to your usual routine.

Another thing to think about is that in another 10 years, surgical techniques may be much more well-developed. I wouldn't be afraid of a newer surgeon-- they're more likely to be familiar with the latest technologies and techniques-- just as long as they have enough "hours" in the operating room to know what they're doing. I wouldn't want to be a surgeon's "first" patient, but newcomers are usually paired up with a more experienced surgeon on numerous surgeries before they're allowed to take the helm.

[green m&m]

That's true, a younger surgeon could be more familiar with newer techniques.

When I find a doctor I like, I tend to stick with them cause... finding a new one is a hassle... Tracking down medical records.. getting copies..

I've had to do that quite a bit in the past few years. Getting copies of your records can get expensive > ... .I think I've see 14 different doctors since 2001.

[The Professor]

medical records

I'm not sure why it should be *too* expensive to get the records. By law, they are your property (at least in this state) and you can inspect them at any time you like, including making copies, which is what I did with mine when my previous GP left the state.

My new GP is right next door to my chiropractor. Makes sharing info a bit easier. Electronic records will be helpful when available, but I worry about the insecurity of many computer systems, especially when you have people running the things that aren't that savvy about keeping out hackers.

[green m&m]

I'm pretty sure in all states, having access is free. But.. free copies are hard to score. One of my doctor's office actually outsourced their copying services... beats me how that works.

It can get expensive (in terms of getting bunch of pieces of paper) when each page costs .25 to .75 to get a copy and you have pretty heafty amount of records.