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I cried reading your post.
I feel for you. I'm going through the exact same thing, and have had my clunky plastic boston brace for just over a week. it is impossible to get used to it and i want to throw it out the window. right now my mom is bugging me to put it on. I feel like it is ruining my life. I hate it with all my might. I hate how it makes me hot and uncomfortable and makes me feel like an ugly, fat loser. It feels inhumane and unnatural. I am ready to call it quits with this stupid brace. I wish it was a nightmare too.
It's not fair, for you or for me, or for anyone going through this.
But I can assure you that you are not alone.
-Steph
You are right, it isn't fair, and you are not alone. As an adult who wore one of those clunky braces for six years in my teens, I feel your pain, physically and emotionally. I remember going from being the tiny girl with the big brown eyes, to the girl with the brace, in an instant. My curves were bigger than yours and the Milwalkee brace, from chin to pelvis, was just a last ditch effort to avoid surgery for a while. My curves were 26 and 47 degrees back in the 1970s, almost too large for bracing.
Every time I'd go to the mall with my sister, she'd get to buy whatever she liked and I had to shop for whatever looked okay over the brace. Then, as we left a store, I'd set off the security system and draw even more attention to my situation! The brace tore up my hair, my clothes ( from the screws), and gave me bruises. I hated it, but I wore it ...twenty three hours a day.
I'm having surgery on April 28 (it was inevitable), but i feel grateful that wearing the brace for six years gave me thirty years of flexability. Looking back, I'm not one bit sorry that I stuck it out. What I went through made me so much less superficial than other people, and made me stronger as an individual. It helped me, and I think it even helped my sister develop a stronger sense of empathy as well.
I wish you well. If you continue to wear the brace and it stops the growth of your curve, there's a good chance you may never have to have surgery at all. That sounds worth it to me. I hope it sounds worth it to you.
-Jo
PS. I finally threw my brace out with the trash just two years ago. I have no idea why I saved it (in the basement) for all those years. It had been a big part of my life for so long and I guess maybe it was a reminder of how I became who I am today.
I feel for you. I'm going through the exact same thing, and have had my clunky plastic boston brace for just over a week. it is impossible to get used to it and i want to throw it out the window. right now my mom is bugging me to put it on. I feel like it is ruining my life. I hate it with all my might. I hate how it makes me hot and uncomfortable and makes me feel like an ugly, fat loser. It feels inhumane and unnatural. I am ready to call it quits with this stupid brace. I wish it was a nightmare too.
It's not fair, for you or for me, or for anyone going through this.
But I can assure you that you are not alone.
-Steph
You are right, it isn't fair, and you are not alone. As an adult who wore one of those clunky braces for six years in my teens, I feel your pain, physically and emotionally. I remember going from being the tiny girl with the big brown eyes, to the girl with the brace, in an instant. My curves were bigger than yours and the Milwalkee brace, from chin to pelvis, was just a last ditch effort to avoid surgery for a while. My curves were 26 and 47 degrees back in the 1970s, almost too large for bracing.
Every time I'd go to the mall with my sister, she'd get to buy whatever she liked and I had to shop for whatever looked okay over the brace. Then, as we left a store, I'd set off the security system and draw even more attention to my situation! The brace tore up my hair, my clothes ( from the screws), and gave me bruises. I hated it, but I wore it ...twenty three hours a day.
I'm having surgery on April 28 (it was inevitable), but i feel grateful that wearing the brace for six years gave me thirty years of flexability. Looking back, I'm not one bit sorry that I stuck it out. What I went through made me so much less superficial than other people, and made me stronger as an individual. It helped me, and I think it even helped my sister develop a stronger sense of empathy as well.
I wish you well. If you continue to wear the brace and it stops the growth of your curve, there's a good chance you may never have to have surgery at all. That sounds worth it to me. I hope it sounds worth it to you.
-Jo
PS. I finally threw my brace out with the trash just two years ago. I have no idea why I saved it (in the basement) for all those years. It had been a big part of my life for so long and I guess maybe it was a reminder of how I became who I am today.
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