Confused, should or shouldn't I have surgery...

[Sunflower]

Hi! I'm Sunflower So, I have a 50 degree curve and I'm unsure weather or not i should have surgery this summer, (Summer of 2010). If i am going to have it, then i will probably have L3 to T6 or T7 bonded. I have no pain right now so the surgery may cause me unnecesary pain. I know i will need to have it soon, but the longer i wait the harder it could be to fix. I'm a freshman right now so i dont exactly want to deal with pain durning my sophmore year immeadiatly after the summer becasue of SAT and PSAT tests, excetera, excetera.....

I have no clue right now so, please, could i have some advice?

[hdugger]

Hi Sunflower,

Welcome from a fellow Oregonian. Sorry you had to find us for this reason, but the good news is that people seem to come through this pretty well, particularly young people.

50 is one of those "magical" numbers in scoliosis where Dr's start thinking about surgery. When/whether you have surgery depends on:

* whether you're in pain
* whether you're progressing or likely to progress

I have a 21-year old son with a curve in the 50s who's still mulling over surgery. His curve is stable for the moment, so he has some time to think.

If you're not likely to progress quickly (that's something your Dr. will help you with) then you can pretty much pick the time that's convenient for you. OTOH, if you are progressing, then you may need to have the surgery sooner to keep it from getting worse.

What Dr. are you seeing?

[Sunflower]

Hi thanks, im an oregonian too! i dont know if its progressing or not but i dont have any pain so......

i had an MTI scan yesterday, (at least i think thats what its called) so ill probably find out more soon,