Greetings. We are in Raleigh, NC.
My identical twin daughters (S and W) were diagnosed with dextroconvex thoracic curves a few months ago. They also have kyphosis. They turned 13 in Nov 2007 and haven't hit puberty.
I am trying to remember the angles but they were in the 20's and possibly the low 30's. The pediatric orthopod took a wait and see approach. On the next visit four months later, one daughter was up to 48 and the other is 31 if I recall correctly. I am told S needs surgery and W needs a brace.
We have appointments for both with the surgeon in early February which will be a second opinion but since he will be doing any surgery we elect, I will likely get a third opinion also on both girls.
I am told the surgery is well tolerated and S will never need a brace nor have to think about scoliosis again. It will be cured as good as it will even be with the surgery and will not get worse.
I was told that if he saw W without knowing how quickly S progressed, he would predict her curve would be stabilized with a brace (or without... I'm not clear). But because S progressed so quickly, W is very likely to progress to needing surgery irrespective of what we do.
W is scheduled for a brace but I need to investigate stapling instead for her.
I have some questions... the first one useless...
1. Should both have been braced at the first visit? Upon reading some of these posts, I'm thinking so. Yet the doctor said that a certain percentage of the medical community doesn't believe bracing works (I assume in the long term) so he took a wait and see approach. And I must say, my initial scans of the posts here corroborate that feeling. That is, despite bracing, folks goon to need surgery anyway.
2. What are the statistics for progression to surgery with each type of brace and with doing nothing or going with staples? Does bracing just postpone surgery?
3. W is interested in Spinecor for obvious reasons. It seems that Spinecor works for a while and then stops working. Our doctor didn't seem too keen on it but then again, he didn't seem too keen on any bracing. He used to do the surgery but doesn't while he is on a cane (or doesn't do it any more...I don't know which). So I don't think he is just fishing for surgical patients. He is very positive about the surgery and frankly, so am I based on what I have learned so far. Of course I need to research it more.
4. I don't fully "get" the strong aversion to the fusion surgery among those on this board. It seems like a very rough month or two in exchange for a lifetime of forgetting about scoliosis and never needing a brace. I feel incredibly lucky that such successful surgery even exists for my daughters' condition. I even told W that since she has a high chance of needing surgery despite any bracing that, if it were me and looking at possibly wearing a brace for 3 years and ALSO needing surgery, I would forgo the brace and just do the surgery. W, however, wants to try bracing even if there is only a small chance it will work. I will let her do whatever she wants in this regard.
Thanks in advance for any perspective on these matters.
sharon
My identical twin daughters (S and W) were diagnosed with dextroconvex thoracic curves a few months ago. They also have kyphosis. They turned 13 in Nov 2007 and haven't hit puberty.
I am trying to remember the angles but they were in the 20's and possibly the low 30's. The pediatric orthopod took a wait and see approach. On the next visit four months later, one daughter was up to 48 and the other is 31 if I recall correctly. I am told S needs surgery and W needs a brace.
We have appointments for both with the surgeon in early February which will be a second opinion but since he will be doing any surgery we elect, I will likely get a third opinion also on both girls.
I am told the surgery is well tolerated and S will never need a brace nor have to think about scoliosis again. It will be cured as good as it will even be with the surgery and will not get worse.
I was told that if he saw W without knowing how quickly S progressed, he would predict her curve would be stabilized with a brace (or without... I'm not clear). But because S progressed so quickly, W is very likely to progress to needing surgery irrespective of what we do.
W is scheduled for a brace but I need to investigate stapling instead for her.
I have some questions... the first one useless...
1. Should both have been braced at the first visit? Upon reading some of these posts, I'm thinking so. Yet the doctor said that a certain percentage of the medical community doesn't believe bracing works (I assume in the long term) so he took a wait and see approach. And I must say, my initial scans of the posts here corroborate that feeling. That is, despite bracing, folks goon to need surgery anyway.
2. What are the statistics for progression to surgery with each type of brace and with doing nothing or going with staples? Does bracing just postpone surgery?
3. W is interested in Spinecor for obvious reasons. It seems that Spinecor works for a while and then stops working. Our doctor didn't seem too keen on it but then again, he didn't seem too keen on any bracing. He used to do the surgery but doesn't while he is on a cane (or doesn't do it any more...I don't know which). So I don't think he is just fishing for surgical patients. He is very positive about the surgery and frankly, so am I based on what I have learned so far. Of course I need to research it more.
4. I don't fully "get" the strong aversion to the fusion surgery among those on this board. It seems like a very rough month or two in exchange for a lifetime of forgetting about scoliosis and never needing a brace. I feel incredibly lucky that such successful surgery even exists for my daughters' condition. I even told W that since she has a high chance of needing surgery despite any bracing that, if it were me and looking at possibly wearing a brace for 3 years and ALSO needing surgery, I would forgo the brace and just do the surgery. W, however, wants to try bracing even if there is only a small chance it will work. I will let her do whatever she wants in this regard.
Thanks in advance for any perspective on these matters.
sharon
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