Received my surgery date...

[faris]

april 11, 2005
I found out about a week ago,, i'm having it done at children's hospital of pittsburgh. I was wondering if anyone had information regarding the doctors there?

I'm 18 and i have 2 curves, one 55 degrees, and the other 56. DO you think it is the right decision to have surgery,, my curves have been progressig steadily even though i wore a brace for 10 years . From what i understand,, i will only have a few free vertebrate on the top and only about 2 or 3 on the bottoms,, because my curve spans a large distance.

Are there any indiviual tips anyone can give me for the surgery,, Already for afterwards, my parents have baby monitors and a new bed for me. I'm grateful for any info you can share .

PS.:I'm 6'2", i was wondering if it is true that i will get taller after the surgery, thanks

[LindaRacine]

Hi Faris...

Sorry to hear that you have to have surgery.

I have two web pages that might be helpful. First, here's a quiz you can take to help you decide whether you should have surgery:

http://www.scoliosislinks.com/ShouldYouHaveSurgery.htm

However, regardless of your score, you should almost certainly have surgery because of your age and the severity of your curves.

Also, here are some tips for getting ready for and recovering from scoliosis surgery:

http://www.scoliosislinks.com/PreparingforSurgery.htm

Regards,
Linda

[Mary Lou]

Not everyone gains a lot of height after surgery. That was our only disappointment. My daughter is 13 1/2 and only gained about 1/2 from her surgery. She is only 4'10 1/2" tall and was hoping for at least three inches. I really don't know why some gain inches and other don't. Linda, any thought on that?

Mary Lou

[Theresa]

I think it also has something to do with how many discs you have removed. Someone on here had mentioned that one time.

[LindaRacine]

Hi...

I'm not sure, but I believe that you're correct. If you have discs removed as part of your scoliosis surgery, and they're not replaced with something of equal height (bone disc, cage, etc.), you can actually lose height. I had 4 discs removed and had only morselized bone placed inbetween the vertebrae. I did gain about 1/2" during surgery. If you have only posterior surgery, the amount of height you gain is a result of how large your curves are to begin with and how much correction is gained.

Regards,
Linda