Hi all. Not sure if any of you remember but I posted a few months back. Anyway, a quick update. I saw my surgeon recently and have set a date for the surgery (April 27). I will have my pre-op appointment on March 28 to confirm everything. I just have some more questions.
- I did one of those x-rays where they check how flexible your spine is. It looked quite good. My surgeon said that he thinks I will get a "near perfect correction" although he didn't want to specify anything further. I'm 23 years old and currently have a 46 degree curve. I will be fused from T12 to L4. I was just wondering what kind of a correction would be realistic to expect? The appearance aspect of the scoliosis is what bothers me the most at the moment (I don't get much pain or anything) and I would be pretty disappointed I guess if I go through this major surgery without a significant physical improvement. I'd really like to be able to wear all the nice stuff I haven't been able to so far
- I was also wondering about the post-op brace. How thick and restrictive/painful is it? I'm thinking to buy some nice tracksuits to wear during recovery and was wondering whether I'd be able to wear my current size or if the brace would be too thick, requiring me to go up one size? What have been the general experiences with post-op bracing?
- I have also heard about a lot of people who get taller after having the surgery. I'm about 5'3" or 4" currently. Would I get much taller than this?
- When did most people feel confident to do things on your own like catching a train, walking around, getting in/out of a car, etc?
- Lastly, I'm pretty frightened about turning into sort of a robot after surgery where I won't be able to do much and walk around in a stiff manner. Is this likely? I would really love to be able to take dance classes or something like that after surgery (after working out, etc firstly) but not sure whether I'd have much flexibility around my hip area. It's currently pretty useless (to move my hips side to side) so I'm guessing it's ambitious to expect it to improve after surgery?
Sorry for the long post. Thanks so much in advance
- I did one of those x-rays where they check how flexible your spine is. It looked quite good. My surgeon said that he thinks I will get a "near perfect correction" although he didn't want to specify anything further. I'm 23 years old and currently have a 46 degree curve. I will be fused from T12 to L4. I was just wondering what kind of a correction would be realistic to expect? The appearance aspect of the scoliosis is what bothers me the most at the moment (I don't get much pain or anything) and I would be pretty disappointed I guess if I go through this major surgery without a significant physical improvement. I'd really like to be able to wear all the nice stuff I haven't been able to so far
- I was also wondering about the post-op brace. How thick and restrictive/painful is it? I'm thinking to buy some nice tracksuits to wear during recovery and was wondering whether I'd be able to wear my current size or if the brace would be too thick, requiring me to go up one size? What have been the general experiences with post-op bracing?
- I have also heard about a lot of people who get taller after having the surgery. I'm about 5'3" or 4" currently. Would I get much taller than this?
- When did most people feel confident to do things on your own like catching a train, walking around, getting in/out of a car, etc?
- Lastly, I'm pretty frightened about turning into sort of a robot after surgery where I won't be able to do much and walk around in a stiff manner. Is this likely? I would really love to be able to take dance classes or something like that after surgery (after working out, etc firstly) but not sure whether I'd have much flexibility around my hip area. It's currently pretty useless (to move my hips side to side) so I'm guessing it's ambitious to expect it to improve after surgery?
Sorry for the long post. Thanks so much in advance
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