
Originally Posted by
cgcannon
Hi Ed,
Thanks, your description of your mobility is super-helpful. Yes, I had my surgery at the age of 9, in 1989. No growing rods, it was one and done. I remember the surgery like it was yesterday, it was no walk in the park, had two surgeries, one anterior and one posterior. Was in the hospital for 3 weeks. The surgery was done at Duke. Because most of my lumbar spine was preserved, I maintained the flexibility and my growth. However, now I have a big issue with coronal imbalance, that's where your body starts to shift to one side, caused by an increase in the lumbar spinal curvature to mainly one side, while the top, fused section stays stationary. It's becoming quite uncomfortable. Imagine going for a walk, or jog, or swim, and consistently having gravity pull you to one side. Fortunately, the pain is not so bad, it's tolerable, dull, and localized in my hip area that sticks out more than the other. I have one doctor so far who agrees to do the surgery, but the surgery feels aggressive to me, have T2-S1 fused. So before I go that route, I'd rather have 1 or 2 additional surgical consultations. PT hasn't seemed to help much.
-Chris