Hi all,
I've been reading up on posts here, trying to take in anything I can without getting myself too worked up or overwhelmed in the process. Our 11.5 year old daughter was just diagnosed with scoliosis in August, and by the time we found it, her curves were already spinal fusion territory at 84* and 91*. Her pediatrician had screened for it in March 2013, but looking back at pictures, it probably started 4-6 months later and progressed at lightning speed. We are going through Leatherman Spine Center in Louisville, KY, and her surgeries will take place in November. Our surgeon (Dr. Campbell) initially wanted to do 2 surgeries with anterior and posterior fusion from T4-L3, but he's pored over her films and MRI and doesn't think he can stop at L3 given the way her curve looks. He'll be breaking things up into 3 surgeries now, one on anterior lumbar, one on anterior thoracic, and the last on posterior placing rods/screws/hooks. He's told us the kids usually bounce back really well, and that the stress is a lot more on parents with the worry. Obviously this has been a lot to take in in a very short time. She currently has some pain, and the surgery should help with that at least in the near term. She also has one leg longer than the other, so I'm hoping that will improve after surgery. I worry a lot about how her back will be in 20-30 years (or 40 or 50!), but I know spine surgery has progressed a lot in the past 20-30 years, so will only be that much better in the next 20-30.
I really wish I'd known/understood how heritable and serious scoliosis can be; my mother-in-law made an off hand comment probably 15 years ago about doing exercises for scoliosis in gym class and a niece of hers having rods put in her spine, and now that Girl Child's been diagnosed, I learned that MIL's father had it too. I don't think there's ever been any question of family history of scoliosis at either the OB or ped's office, and I really wish with the decreased school screenings that there was more effort to discuss this and raise awareness for parents who might need to keep a closer eye on their kids given a family history. I think our school district still does them, but not until 7th grade, and that seems far too late for girls.
Anyway, there's tons more, as I'm sure most of you can imagine, but that's the Reader's Digest version anyway. I appreciate that there are forums like this available for information and support; the next few months will almost certainly be an emotional and physical roller coaster for us...
I've been reading up on posts here, trying to take in anything I can without getting myself too worked up or overwhelmed in the process. Our 11.5 year old daughter was just diagnosed with scoliosis in August, and by the time we found it, her curves were already spinal fusion territory at 84* and 91*. Her pediatrician had screened for it in March 2013, but looking back at pictures, it probably started 4-6 months later and progressed at lightning speed. We are going through Leatherman Spine Center in Louisville, KY, and her surgeries will take place in November. Our surgeon (Dr. Campbell) initially wanted to do 2 surgeries with anterior and posterior fusion from T4-L3, but he's pored over her films and MRI and doesn't think he can stop at L3 given the way her curve looks. He'll be breaking things up into 3 surgeries now, one on anterior lumbar, one on anterior thoracic, and the last on posterior placing rods/screws/hooks. He's told us the kids usually bounce back really well, and that the stress is a lot more on parents with the worry. Obviously this has been a lot to take in in a very short time. She currently has some pain, and the surgery should help with that at least in the near term. She also has one leg longer than the other, so I'm hoping that will improve after surgery. I worry a lot about how her back will be in 20-30 years (or 40 or 50!), but I know spine surgery has progressed a lot in the past 20-30 years, so will only be that much better in the next 20-30.
I really wish I'd known/understood how heritable and serious scoliosis can be; my mother-in-law made an off hand comment probably 15 years ago about doing exercises for scoliosis in gym class and a niece of hers having rods put in her spine, and now that Girl Child's been diagnosed, I learned that MIL's father had it too. I don't think there's ever been any question of family history of scoliosis at either the OB or ped's office, and I really wish with the decreased school screenings that there was more effort to discuss this and raise awareness for parents who might need to keep a closer eye on their kids given a family history. I think our school district still does them, but not until 7th grade, and that seems far too late for girls.
Anyway, there's tons more, as I'm sure most of you can imagine, but that's the Reader's Digest version anyway. I appreciate that there are forums like this available for information and support; the next few months will almost certainly be an emotional and physical roller coaster for us...
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