significant curve, little time

[Showtime]

hii! i play softball and LOVE IT. anyways, my curves were about 30ish when they said i needed a brace, then hes all like "i dont think it would work since your curves are HUGEE." yeah. so i got a brace and now its 40 and been at 40 since the summer, i might have a chance! =] but did you try getting a brace? it made mine go wayy slower.

Hello,
Read my thread (Showtime). I was there when I was your age. When I was your age I was modeling professionally for JC Pennys with two 45 degree curves. I have had it for 42 years now without surgery and without a brace. I have 5 children and 3 have had scoliosis. No one had a brace and my son was a great wrestler. You do have a choice. I did not want to be inhibited at all because I was so heavily involved in athletics of so many different kinds. Sports is your friend all your life with such large curves make sure. I can tell you the consequences of no surgery vs having surgery if you would like. I'm not against it. I just know my situation as I have lived my years without surgery with two 45 degree curves at age 12 .....do the math and you will know my age. My purpose in writing is to give anyone the blessing of my experience without surgery or brace after so long. When you first find out or you find you have such a large curve you feel like a freak. But there is a life and you can be just as normal as anyone else. My years with it may be an inspiration to others.
Showtime

[A User Is Me]

Ben,
we just came back from seeing a surgeon yesterday. (Dr. Hey in Raleigh,NC) The surgery he does on adults and children is amazing. MAybe you can check for second and third opinions and find someone in your area who would do it. He attaches the titanium rods with pedicle screws. He says his patients are standing up the day after surgery, one high school girl was back at school 3 days after surgery and within 6 days of surgery back at cheerleading. You don't need to be out for the season if you get the surgery. (He also had an olympic swimmer I think he sadi - who was swimming competitively 2 weeks after surgery).
Christina in NC

HI,
DId you have a surgery with Dr. Hey? Could you tell me your experience?

[MATJESNIC]

Someone on spinekids just had surgery with Dr. Hey and she said she had a 100% correction. I didn't know there was such a thing.

[A User Is Me]

Someone on spinekids just had surgery with Dr. Hey and she said she had a 100% correction. I didn't know there was such a thing.

Thanks for that info.
Is it possible to talk with that person? I am so confused about this site most of the time I do not know where I am.

[MATJESNIC]

Her Parents sent me some pictures and updates about her surgery. Let me send them an e-mail and ask if they will talk to you. Do you live in North Carolina?

[Christina_in_NC]

Dr Hey

Thanks for that info.
Is it possible to talk with that person? I am so confused about this site most of the time I do not know where I am.

Yes, we did have the surgery with Dr Hey.
My 13 yo dd had fusion from T5-L3 on Feb 22 - and yes, she had a 100% correction - curves went from ~C20, T48, L48 to O,O,O!!. We are now at 3 weeks post-op and doing well. I think the athletes seem to recover much faster than non-athletic types (several back up and participating in sports within weeks of surgery) but compared to other stories I hear even our recovery is fast. She was in the hospital from Thursday (surgery) to Monday - 4 nights. Could probably have gone home the day before if I had not been so nervous about bringing her home (it really was not a big deal) and if she had not been throwing up so much. She could not keep crackers down - and on Sunday the nurse encouraged us just to let her have liquids again and try on Monday for real food. The Dr. would have been fine with us going home on Sunday.
The hospital is excellent - I heard some complaints from some other people but it seems they wanted more one-on-one care than a hospital can give.
Dr. Hey is fabulous. He left Duke University about 3 years ago to work on his own so he could take time with his patients and so no interns would be doing his surgeries. He uses titanium rods and screws. He was wonderful in pre-op appointments really helping us to make a good decision and understand what was at stake. He is very confidence inspiring and we were not left wondering if we had made the right decision. He also felt free to tell us what he would do if he were in our shoes (not all surgeons will offer that). Also, from other people who have been to see him, I can say that he does not always recommend surgery as the first thing to do. He makes it sound easy if you need the surgery, but he also wanrs those who have an option that surgery is not always easy.
I'll let you throw out some specific questions...
his web site is www.heyclinic.com and he has a blog and podcast at http://web.mac.com/drhey/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html These have specific surgeries, questions from patients, etc and are interesting to see.

[A User Is Me]

I am so glad to hear your daughter is doing well. Was the surgeon able to correct most of the curvature? My 15 y.o. son's bmi is 14 and I read in the forum being too thin is not a good thing when facing this kind of surgery so I am very concerned about this. How big is the scar? The length is about 16-18" right? Was she thin too? Thanks.

[A User Is Me]

Her Parents sent me some pictures and updates about her surgery. Let me send them an e-mail and ask if they will talk to you. Do you live in North Carolina?

Thanks. Yes I do live in NC.

[MATJESNIC]

She said she got 100% correction.

[Christina_in_NC]

Yes, my daughter is very thin - she is 13 and was 5feet tall and had to go on a weight gaining regimen to hit 80 lbs so she could go to his preferred hospital (he can operate at another hospital that is not next to his office with smaller children - but they have to be in ICU after surgery and parents can not stay overnight with the child so he greatly prefers to use what is called "Little Duke" or Duke Health Raleigh Hospital).

Being thin was not an issue to him. The only thing I ever heard is someone told me there is a larger chance of needing to go back in later in life and remove any protions of the hardware that may start irritating - he claims this happens in less than 2% of cases and is in most cases a 45 min surgery. The chances of this being a problem were so much less than the chances of her scoli being a problem we had no choice.

Her scar is 9.5 inches. She was fused from T5-L3. He cuts as little as possible and then reaches up and down inside the cut to get the last few screws in. She does have a video of the surgery if that would help.
He uses plastic surgery closure - which means no stitches or staples and you can shower the next day if you wish.

The surgery lasted 3 hours and the nurse called us every hour to let us know what was going on and how she was responding.

The correction was 100% - she has no curvature at all.