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  • Small Scoliosis

    Hi, my name’s Magda and I’m new here.I have a scoliosis but my scoliosis is small (25* and 19*) I’m very sad becouse I want to have a surgery!! But in Poland only person who had 45* (and more) can had the surgery.Why? My doctor said “you can live with scoliosis” but for me it is horrible I can’t live like this ! I’m desperate ......... How is it in Your country? Maybe have You ever heard something about person who had small scoliosis and had the surgery? Please help me .... my life is like the hell!
    I hope You can understand me.My English is terrible.Sorry for mistakes.
    Thanks,
    Magda

  • #2
    Hi Magda...

    You did very well with your English!

    What is it that bothers you about your scoliosis? Here in the U.S., surgeons usually won't operate unless one's curves are at least 50 degrees. Surgery for scoliosis is a very painful thing, and permanently fuses many vertebrae together, giving the patient less flexibility. Believe me when I say that, having had scoliosis surgery, I would do anything I could to avoid going through it.

    Regards,
    Linda
    Never argue with an idiot. They always drag you down to their level, and then they beat you with experience. --Twain
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Surgery 2/10/93 A/P fusion T4-L3
    Surgery 1/20/11 A/P fusion L2-sacrum w/pelvic fixation

    Comment


    • #3
      Thank you for the comments. I know that the surgery is painful and hard and maybe unsafe...But for me it is very important.I want to be a normal girl but I can’t... My back look horrible although I have “only” 25 degrees.I can’t wear tight clothes.It is really horrible.I can’t go to the beach or swimming pool.I can’t leave my room.I think about my scoliosis every day.I can’t forget about it.I’m really unhappy.I want to live like a normal girl.I’m suffering from depression and my psychologist can’t help me. I don’t know what I have to do....I can’t accept my abnormal appearance.I dream of the surgery...
      Magda

      Comment


      • #4
        Scoliosis is no big Deal

        Listen to me. I am 13 years old and have one C curve of 57 degrees and no-one has noticed and I go around with tight fitting clothes(some of the time.) I have to have surgery and I have to stay off school for three months. I love school and I would much rather a brace like you will get. A brace will stop your curve from getting worse and it may even make it better. You don't know how lucky you are I'm not saying this so that you feel sorry for me . I'm saying it so you stop feeling sorry for yourself. No-one else notices ur scoliosis you only think they do. It's so tiny a curve it's impossible to notice. Plus if you have surgery the only sports you're allowed to do are Running and swimming(ever) and you can never carry anything heavy again (Heavy being a schoolbag). So stop being sad;be happy and go out and live your life to it's full potential because that's what i'm doing because scoliosis is no big deal.
        Yours Truly,
        Clara

        P.S Would you like to be friends?
        What age are you?

        Comment


        • #5
          Trust me on this one- few people notice people with scoliosis!
          I had a 52 degree curve. My shoulders were 2 to 3 inches different in heights, and i had no waist at ALL on my left side. And often times people wouldn't even notice if I didn't mention i had it! I still got cat calls when i went jogging (much to my irritation....) before my op, and even though my back is only a little less curved after I had my surgery than yours is now, I get cat calls.
          Heck, I couldn't even tell that my best friend's future sister in law had it, and she had one curve that was 60 degrees, and the other that was in the 40s! And I was shocked when another girl whom I competed against in horse shows had surgery for curves in the 80's and 90s!

          The reason surgeons don't operate on relatively small curves is that the benefits in such a case are usually minimal. You trade off a minimal curve for a surgery with a pretty long recovery period, a scar, and a back that now is wierd not because it is curvy, but because it no longer moves. And even then the curve may not be totally straightened.

          Trust me, it's not exactly fun to have most of your spine fixed into one spot for the rest of your life. It was the best option for me because I had bad pain, and because my spine was so out of balance, I couldn't do the thing I loved best and hoped to make a living doing. But my surgeon honestly would have preferred to not do the surgery if there was any way to avoid it. The only reason i can tell that a man would hope so hard against doing a surgery that would have made him a ton of money is that it is an incredibly hard surgery. It changes your life forever. Sometimes for the better. other times for the worst. Sometimes it's a little of both. But there is no going back. The results, whatever they are, are pretty darn permanent.

          The thing I miss most is waking up in the morning, and stretching my whole back until I see colors behind my closed eyelids. I'm not going to be able to do that ever again. And I have to be more careful driving- I have a hard time checking my blind spot. And you can forget about me changing light bulbs- A couple weeks ago I fell on one of the guys I worked with because I tried to stretch and reach to unscrew a lightbulb, but ended up losing my balance and falling off the ladder because my spine just doesn't bend enough to help me balance. A fused spine just isn't as agile and useful as a normal spine (even a scoliotic one)

          Before I had my surgery, I thought that having my surgery would make me feel so fantastic about myself. But you know, I don't feel any more normal or prettier since I had the surgeryce my surgery than I did before I had it. But you know how I DO feel better about myself? I get satisfaction from that fact that even though my back isnt perfectly straight, and I have a big scar, I am OK with myself. I feel that by being open about the differences in my appearance, I can help others. I wear a bikini in front of others, i wear clingy tops and things that show my scar and uneven waist and shoulders.
          Fact of the matter is that when you have scoliosis, there is nothing you can do to make yourself really "normal". But who IS normal? People who wear glasses look far more abnormal than somebody with mild scoliosis. Stick a bunch of glass and plastic on your face and walk around like that? If you really think about it, that looks pretty darn silly!
          You're depressed because you've allowed yourself to just get stuck on a meaningless label- And we've all done the same thing at some point. Heck, I flunked an entire term of college because I was so depressed before my surgery. I wasted nearly $5000 in books, fees, and transportation to class. Did it help anything? NO! I felt even worse about myself for allowing something so dumb to get in the way of me living my life! Just like locking yourself in your room and dwelling on a minor imperfection in your body won't help anything. It feels SO much better to overcome something than to let it beat you. I still stand in front of a mirror and frown at myself, tug at the hem of a shirt that doesn't quite cover my right hip bone, or pout a bit when i am straightening the racks at work and realize that the style of a particularly cute shirt will not fit correctly on me because of my back. But it's the way my body is. It's the way my body always will be. Might as well be ok with it!
          Blair

          Dec 15th, 2003 @ age of 20
          Posterior Fusion and CD Horizon instrumentation T2-L1.
          Surgery by Dr. Herkowitz- Beaumont Hospital of Royal Oak, Michigan
          Excellent correction of 52 degree single left thoracolumbar curve. Slight curve remains in unfused lumbar region but seems stable.
          February 5, 2005- Failed Scar Revision Surgery
          September 17, 2005- 2nd Failed Scar Revision.

          Comment


          • #6
            Blair and Clara... VERY well said! You guys rock.

            --Linda
            Never argue with an idiot. They always drag you down to their level, and then they beat you with experience. --Twain
            ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Surgery 2/10/93 A/P fusion T4-L3
            Surgery 1/20/11 A/P fusion L2-sacrum w/pelvic fixation

            Comment


            • #7
              If only I could go back before I had the surgery, even when I was in the 50 degree curve, but for me it was ONLY because I had pain 24/7 that I got the surgery and that didn't happen until I was about 26.

              I really don't care that my back had a hump before, and it still does and if I want to wear clothes that show it, well then I will. The only thing that was hard was when I wore a brace for 4 years in High School and I had to wear loose clothes, plus I got picked on a LOT and tortured when some people touched me and realized that I was a "freak" according to them, because of the brace

              But anyway, I know how we can all freak over not really big issues, as I had a period in my younger days when I lost a lot of hair and thought I would go bald and it depressed me for a while, until I realized how it was superficial and now know what real problems are
              35 y/old female from Montreal, Canada
              Diagnosed with scoliosis(double major) at age 12, wore Boston brace 4 years at least 23 hours a day-curve progressed
              Surgery age 26 for 60 degree curve in Oct. 1997 by Dr.Max Aebi-fused T5 to L2
              Surgery age 28 for a hook removal in Feb. 1999 by Dr.Max Aebi-pain free for 5 years
              Surgery age 34 in Dec.2005 for broken rod replacement, bigger screws and crosslinks added and pseudarthrosis(non union) by Dr. Jean Ouellet

              Comment


              • #8
                I think ultimately it's a choice you have to make, live your life and not let it control you, or it controls you and you don't live your life. I know which one I would choose

                And I can say this because to some I would probably have a lot of reason to sit around depressed, frustrated and angry at my body. After surgery I still have two big curves (each around the 60 degree mark) so I still have all the works big rib hump, uneven hips, creased folds of skin on the body, scary looking stuff basically.

                But when it comes down to it, it doesn't honestly bother me that I don't quite fit the mold and clothes shopping is challenging, 'cause that's simply what makes me and who I am.

                What is stopping you wearing tight clothes, going to the beach, going swimming??. When it comes down to it, only the power of the mind is stopping you. Don't let anything get in your way, because before you know it you'll be 90, sitting in the rocking chair and having soo many regrets and 'if only I.....'. There's so much to experience out there to be experienced and needs experiencing.

                When it comes down to it, people who are worth your time (ie socialising with and being friends etc) will accept you for you, 'imperfections and all'; and when I look at someone I look at their face, not their body. And I even dated a guy in a wheelchair at one stage, I fell in love with guy and who he was, the chair I barely noticed.

                Alison
                Last edited by Alison; 08-15-2005, 02:21 AM.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Thinking about the cosmetic side of it, I don't think having a scar is nicer than a very small hump, even I still don't care about my scar and for the folks who see it- on the contrary, it's a part of me and they look at me like I am and was brave on some level to go and still will have to go through what I have.

                  I also have had dreams about the surgery and now that I have to have another one, I started having dreams about it once again, but they're not very nice ones, more like nightmares.
                  35 y/old female from Montreal, Canada
                  Diagnosed with scoliosis(double major) at age 12, wore Boston brace 4 years at least 23 hours a day-curve progressed
                  Surgery age 26 for 60 degree curve in Oct. 1997 by Dr.Max Aebi-fused T5 to L2
                  Surgery age 28 for a hook removal in Feb. 1999 by Dr.Max Aebi-pain free for 5 years
                  Surgery age 34 in Dec.2005 for broken rod replacement, bigger screws and crosslinks added and pseudarthrosis(non union) by Dr. Jean Ouellet

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Hi tank You for the comments.I understand that it is very strange for You and I understand that You cant't understand me although You want.I can't wear tight clothes becouse I can't look at myself.I woke up every morning and I think that I hate my body.I can't live with scoliosis.It kills me every day...I can't stand lliving with scoliosis.
                    Thanks,
                    Magda

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Hi Magda...

                      If possible, I think it might be beneficial for you to talk to a professional who deals with body image issues.

                      Regards,
                      Linda
                      Never argue with an idiot. They always drag you down to their level, and then they beat you with experience. --Twain
                      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      Surgery 2/10/93 A/P fusion T4-L3
                      Surgery 1/20/11 A/P fusion L2-sacrum w/pelvic fixation

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Hi

                        I understand why you want surgery, i've only just turned 21 and i found out i may need it as my curve is 46degree with a smaller curve at the bottom. But i think your so lucky i wish i didnt have to have it. But i think that its the same everywhere here in England a doctor wont operate unless its over 45degrees and getting worse. And if you have surgery there is no garentee that you will be pain free, ive spoke to people that suffered with pain after surgery.
                        I hope you find peace in your self to be happy with the way you are.
                        Good Luck

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          i know it is really really really scary to be learning about all this stuff. but you shouldn't be stressing over it. it may seem like a huge curve when you look at your spine but truly it isn't noticeable. i know surgery seems like a good way out but it want correct your spine completely. the most correction i have heard of is down to a 10* which is awesome. there is no way any of us will have a full on straight spine. if it makes you feel better in reality no one has a straight spine. almost every single person has a slight curve to their spine. theirs is just like 5* whereas ours are what you might call real curves. do you have any idea how special it makes us? at first i thought i couldn't play my violin anymore cause it caused me pain to play than i got a brace and it was weird to play in it. i overcame it. none of my friends even notice my brace. they can't tell if i am wearing it or not even friends who i see everyday! i can actually feel the difference in my hips and trust me it is annoying but i still love my spine. i had soo many funny things happen with my friends and bill(brace) last year. my friend andrew would always come up and tap it and start cracking up. he would say i have abs of steel. then in jazz band one day he tells our teacher "courtney has curley-cue spine syndrome" it was hilarious the look on her face cause my name isn't courtney and he did this funny thing where he copied my spine in the air. my friend emily came up hit me in the head and said "Life's tough get a helmet" so i hit her in the back and said "Life's tough get a backbrace" we cracked up for days. an awesome site to check out is www.spinekids.com there are a ton of girls and guys there. we have our good days and bad days but we get through it and so will you!
                          Name: Kelsey
                          Age:14.....i'm a freshman
                          I love the violin!!!
                          Have had a minnesota brace since July 2004
                          Curves: 32L and 27T
                          Also post on spinekids under ellie!!
                          Proud owner of a curly-cue spine!!!!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I have a "small scoliosis" also. They won't dare operate on me. Not that I could afford it anyway. This "small scoliosis" is a huge pain in the... Makes life a living hell... And drugs only serve to screw me up. They just say: "Don't worry, you'll live". Great.

                            -BaDnOn

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              It's ok

                              Hey Magda,
                              I also think about my scoliosis a fair bit. Sometimes all I want is a straight spine and my curve isn't even that big, so I know where you're coming from, but really, it will be ok! I know you feel self-concious, but I really doubt that others notice. I hear that the surgery is extremely painful and perhaps it really isn't for you. Just embrace who you are, "flaws" and all. Your scoliosis makes you unique, maybe not in the way you want. I also think it might be a good idea for you to see a counsellor that specializes in body image issues.

                              hill

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