new to forum

[babette71]

hello all,

my name is barbara. i am 35. i had harrington rod and fusion back in 1982 in boston.
i did fine for long time, married and had 3 children no problem.
now i have noticed in the past maybe year that i have slowed way down. i tripped coming up the stairs and had excruciating pain in my back. i went and saw a local ortho. here in missouri thinking i just had a muscle spasm or something. i was completely blindsided when he showed me my x-rays and started telling me all about my back!
he said i had flatback, severe osteoarthritis, my spine crankshafted above the fusion, my rod is broken and summed it all up by saying i needed a total spinal reconstruction. wow so much for a muscle spasm!
so now i am going up to st.louis to see dr. lenke on june 27th. i have heard a lot of good about him and have been very impressed by his website.
but wow i think i'm still in shock. was anyone else out there as blissfully ignorant as i was? love to hear from anyone who has similiar revision surgery.
thaks for reading.....barb

[LindaRacine]

Hi Barb...

In addition to any responses you receive here, you might want to check out this YahooGroup:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Flatback_Revised/

You'll find a whole community of people in similar situations.

Regards,
Linda

[babette71]

thank you

linda,

i have gone to the site you suggested and find it hard to navigate but i'll keep trying!
take care, barb

[rainbow2010]

I had to have revision surgery and went to a neurosurgeon. He helped some but was unsure of what else to do to help me. I now go to an ortho that specializes in adult scoliosis patients and the aging spine. I am 48 and had my original surgery 32 years ago. I have two children and had no problems until 5 years ago. I now have problems above and below my fusion.

[babette71]

hi rainbow!

so it looks like from your post you have had a bad go of it. i hope your ortho can offer you more options than the other surgeon.
also did your daughter have surgery? that is one of my biggest fears that one of my children will be bad like me. i'm actually taking my oldest (12) and middle (9) tomorrow to see a pediatric scoliosis dr. their pediatrition has assured me they have very mild curves but i'm a little nervous about my 9 year old. my best to you and yours,
barb

[rainbow2010]

My biggest problems now are due to arthritis in my spine. My oldest daughter had a small curve at age 10 that she out grew. My younger daughter got the gene from me and had to have surgery at 14. All you can do is keep getting them checked. My doctor taught me how to screen for scoliosis and I was the one who found my daughters' curves! The younger one had just been check at school a month earlier and they didn't catch her curve.