Need to hear the good things

[Karen Ocker]

I had a revision 5 years ago at age 60(2002)---and got my life back. I am still gainfully employed and spent 3 weeks last Spring doing day hikes in the Alps and Black Forest.
I shudder when I see my old videos(2001); I looked so terrible deformed.

[Singer]

Many of you know I've been having major post-op problems with my leg, which has oveshadowed the benefits of surgery, in my mind. BUT -- just recently I've noticed that the swelling around my belly and torso has gone down a lot, and I have a really cute figure that I can't wait to show off with tight clothes. Also, my rib hump is gone, and the pain I used to have where my spine rotated -- in the middle of my back -- is gone too.

[abhbarry]

Like Chris, I am still suffering complications. HOWEVER, whenever I used to go out grocery shopping, etc. I would get this horrible pinching, sharp pain in my lower vertebrae, which is no longer there!!! Hallelujah! I'm confident that my complications and the post-op pain I am currently suffering will eventually go and one day I can write that I went hiking in the Alps too!

This is silly and unrelated, but my husband's new nickname for me is Ti22 (The chemical element abbreviation and number for titanium)! Anyone is free to use it. Afterall, we are the real bionic women/men!

Best,
Anya

[Shari]

Hi Chris,

I'm with you on that, I am wearing cloths that I wouldn't have ever dared to wear since I was in my late 20's to early 30's.

I never wore tight clothing and now I find myself buying cloths that show my body, and I sometimes wonder if I'm doing it because I couldn't do it before.

At my age I often wonder what people think about some of my clothing choices, I wonder if what I have choosen is to young looking for an older broad. But never having the opportunity to dress that way before, I'm not sure if my choices are in the best judgement, but I get lots of complements.

Shari

[Janet]

Chris - Congrats on the continuing improvement and the new cute figure - better hurry up and wear those tight clothes before winter arrives and you'll have to wear a bulky coat over them!

Shari - I think tight clothes are perfect for post-op women, especially us older broads, because of all those prime years spent wearing tents; as to what people might think about your tight clothes or your choices not in your best judgment - screw 'em

My idea of the perfect "I feel great post-op dress" - clingy black knit with a deep slash along the spine to show off the scars. Who needs jewelry?

Interestingly, as I approach my surgery date, I am not only continuing to give away a lot of my clothes but also am getting rid of home furnishings, "important" papers that ceased to be important 10 years ago, etc. I see this entire process as a second chance at everything!

[shegiles]

Janet--
It's so good to hear that someone else has the same feeling of her life starting over in a way with the surgery. That has been true for me--so true that it makes the surgery more uncomfortable. I decided literally weeks before learning that surgery was even possible that I didn't want to finish my dissertation or be a professor. So simultaneously I've been prepping for a body change and getting rid of carloads of books and papers. It makes the prospect of the other side of the surgery even more of an unknown, since I don't have the familiar life to return to. But it has felt appropriate too--it's the right choice. And even though I know I shouldn't, I can't help but feel a little bit that I brought the scoliosis on myself, or progressed it anyway, in all those years of squelching myself--not being true to myself. Not doing the things I really wanted to do, but what I thought was attainable, realistic, safe.

Anyone else have those feelings about their scoliosis?

Holly

[crepehanger]

Holly-

I have sent you a private message- Lisa

[LauraMary]

6 years on...

hi i had my first op aged 14 which corrected me with rods and then a 2nd op to try and reduce the hump on my right side.

positives:
i grew an extra 2 inches*
no more back pain!
posture improved
more confidence

slight negatives: (sorry but i need to warn you)
the surgeon could only go so far with the 2nd op and although it did improve the appearance to a certain extent i feel i look twisted still (this is mainly in those damn changing rooms with the 3 mirrors, no-one else notices - or so they say!)
when i sit in a car or hard chair or lie on my back for too long then i get a bruised uncomfortable feeling at the bottom of my right shoulder blade where it was operated on.

however! these negatives could be entirely individual. i did have a 90 degree curve and according to one not-very-nice surgeon was 'very deformed'. but i have heard of and seen about many patients with really good results and the difference to their confidence must be amazing!

*i then shrank an inch but this may have been my fault for not doing my physio exercises and not concentrating on my posture

hope this helps a little x

[Janet]

Holly - I sent you a PM