How it All Began

    When I was in 4th grade I wanted to go to girl scout camp. Ha, yes, I was a bit of a nerd. But in order to go to girl scout camp you had to have a physical. So my mom and I went to my main doctor to get my physical. He had me bend over and touch my toes so he could feel my spine for scoliosis. When he felt it he said, okay well you most certainly have scoliosis. I was still able to go to camp (thankfully, I mean those things are pretty cool. Boys are missing out).


    After camp my parents decided that we needed to see an orthopedic doctor about my scoliosis because we weren't knowledgeable on the topic and didn't know really what to do about it. The first doctor we went to see took x-rays of my back and we learned that my curve was 37deg in the thoracic spine and 35 in the lumbar. We found out that though these curves were high, the fact that they were not far apart meant I had an S" curve. Meaning, my head was still positioned over my pelvis- very very good news.
     *** if you are wondering what the measurements mean: they measure the degree between the two most curved vertebrae in each part of my spine (your spine has three sections: cervical, thoracic, lumbar). Normal people have 0deg or maybe 5-10deg.


    Those measurements, for a 9 year old, are pretty darn high. Usually surgeons operate on people with curves that are over 40deg. So, this surgeon said he wanted to do surgery and that I would definitely have surgery before I got out of high school. My parents said absolutely not. She is so young and wants to be a professional dancer.




   We went back to my family doctor and asked for a different ortho doctor where we lived, and he said there weren't really too many others. So my parents did research and talked to my family doctor again and found a doctor in OK City that was supposed to be amazing- Dr. Andy Sullivan (who saved my childhood).
http://www.oumedicine.com/body.cfm?id=3034



   We went out there and his response was, "naaah, she doesn't need surgery. I'll brace her. We got this" (said in a much more doctorly manner). So the plan was braces. That story, will be another blog. I can't sit too much longer, but I will be back. Soon you'll know how I got to the point where I am officially, "a scoliosis surgery SURVIVOR!". Also, if you are reading this and have questions, comment with an email address and we can chat.

LOVE TO ALL !!!