Also Just Diagnosed

[mcgntl]

Hello,
My 12 year old daughter was diagnosed yesterday. We went to the doctor for knee pain and did a scoliosis test as well. Standing, she looks fine but when she bends over, she is completely crooked. I am feeling a little guilty that I have not noticed this before. X-rays were taken and I was amazed at the S shape of her spine. We are waiting for measurements of the curves and will procede with treatment from there. She is doing fine. She was nervous yesterday, mostly from never having an X-ray before. I am glad that this forum exists. I have learned so much already and am feeling more at ease.
Thank you,

[phaden]

>>I am feeling a little guilty that I have not noticed this before.

Boy, does that sound familiar. Our daughter was 37/32 when she was diagnosed, an I've been beating myself up over it ever since. Which is ironic really, since when I took her to the GP because her shoulder blade looked funny, he told me there was nothing wrong, and implied that I was being a hysterical Mum. Then a couple of hours later he called us at home to say that he had talked to a surgeon and that funny shoulder blade could be Bad News. As it turned out to be. Her two curves are so balanced that you really can't see anything wrong with her. Her X-rays were pretty dramatic, though.

But if the doctor's can't even detect this condition, should we really feel guilty that we can't? (We shouldn't, but we will. It's a Mum thing.)

Good luck to you. The whole experience has been not as bad as we thought it would be, once we got over the shock.

Cheers - Patricia

[mcgntl]

Thank you for your kind words.

It is hard to get over feeling as though I should have seen it. My daughter is not feeling too bad about it so that helps me alot. But, I always wish it was me rather than the kids when something is wrong.

As I said before, I am so glad that this forum is here. It sure helps to know that you can talk about this with others, read about treatment, progress, etc.

Thanks again,

[phaden]

Another forum we like is the one at spinekids.com. Although parents do post there, it's quite kid-oriented with games and threads on non-scoli things like movies and music and so on. Lots of scoli girls are active on that one, if your daughter would like to get in touch with some kids who know exactly what she's going through.

Patricia

[OneofFive1]

mcgntl,
Have u heard of ASCO scoliosistreament?
Don't feel bad..how could u of noticed.
Another site (scoliosis forum) is Spinekids.com! It's probally more kid friendly than this one.

[Mary Lou]

CJ...
Please don't beat yourself up! If you were to read all of the post on this site, you would find out that most of us Moms did not diagnose our children. My husband used to walk up behind our daughter and pull her shoulders back and tell her to stand tall, shoulders back and she would reply that she couldn't. I never knew what was wrong. No one ever told me what the signs/symptoms of Scoliosis or Kyphosis were. In fact, I never heard the word Kyphosis until my daughter was diagnosed with it! When diagnosed, her Scoliosis (side to side curve) was 36* and her Kyphosis (front to back curve) was 79* and I missed it! Thankfully, though, I never miss taking my daughters in for their yearly check-ups with the family doctor. He is the one who found my daughter's Kyphoscoliosis. Best of luck.
Mary Lou

[Nicole]

Hi cj,
Hang in there- it is a shock-don't feel guilty-it came on suddenly for our daughter (14)- the unknown is the most frightning. We are also in California, after many conflicting opinions, we are very satified with our decision to brace and found an excellent Dr. who is not in it for the money!!! you can e-mail me for more info.
suzirenee1@aol.com