hiya, im new here =)

[rachael]

I second looking into a shriner's hospital, I'm not sure which one is closest to you, but I bet somebody on here could help you. I had mine done years ago at the Scottish Rite in Dallas for free, we would of never afforded it otherwise, and now I am a big supporter of them.
Anyway, not everyone goes through intense pain when they have surgery, so don't be too scared of it. I thought getting my wisdom teeth out was more painful (of course, I had a really bad experience with that), just the recovery takes a lot of time and I am just slightly limited in some mobility, but hardly noticeable.

[gardenjen]

Philadelphia Shriners is great!

Hi rsoccer 212! I took my daughter to Philadelphia a few years ago to see Dr. Betz. Her curves were 47/45. He does motion films to see if your curves are still flexible. If your bottom curve corrects itself with motion films, you might be a candidate for thoracoscopic surgery where the incision(s) are small slits between your ribs and he only has to fuse the top curve. If that's the case, the bottom curve straightens by itself when the top one is made straight (and you are left with more flexibility in your lower spine). She was a candidate and scheduled the surgery but decided to cancel it and try to maintain her curves the way they are with exercises called Schroth exercises. You can read about minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgery on the spineuniverse.com website (and just in case you're curious, about Schroth exercises at scoliosisrehab.com). It's true that Shriner's services are free if your insurance doesn't pay and you get expert care there. Dr. Betz was the President of the Scoliosis Research Society a couple of years ago. Good luck!

[aprilshowers]

As far as being able to bend, my orthopedic surgeon said that you cannot bend your back where the rods. For me, if I were to get surgery, which I don't think I will, there would be about 6 inches of my spine I could not move, but the rest would still be movable. He did say flexibility is decreased.