Who am I:
Megan, 24 years old. Born in Leduc, AB. and living a wonderful life surrounded by my mom, dad, brother, boyfriend, an awesome hyper puppy, and a darling cat. Current graduate with a Pyschology Honours degree; however, taking a year (or two off) to pursue Scoliosis Surgery.
Scoliosis?
I was diagnosed with idiopathic thoracic lumbar scoliosis when I was 14. Being 14, my parents never saw me without a shirt and I was usually bouncing around so quickly that it was impossible to notice that something was wrong. However, I was in singing lessons at the time and one day at a lesson my vocal coach asked me to please stop leaning to the left and to stand up straight - To which I responded "I am standing straight". Thankfully, my vocal teacher had heard of scoliosis before and immediately recognized what was going on and informed my parents.
After seeing Dr. James Mahood, it was discovered that my spine was rotated to the right and twisted to the left side of my body by about 30 degree's making a very evident C shaped curve. The options at that time were immediate surgery, back bracing, or the hope that puberty would not wreck havoc on my spine and may instead help stabilize the curve. My parents and I decided at that point to wait it out and see if my spine would stabilize. Some may wonder why that choice was made and why my parents did not force surgery upon me, but the key word in this question is "force". It was just not the right moment for me, I was terrified of the idea of surgery and honestly a decision that big was one I wanted to make myself; therefore, the choice was left in my hands to when I wanted to pursue surgery.
Sadly, puberty was not beneficial to my spine and the curve progressed to 60 degree's. At this point, in 2011, my dad and I headed down to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for a non surgical treatment at the Lancaster Spinal Health Center. There we met Dr. Clayton, a young brilliant doctor with a true passion for helping scoliosis patients. The procedure which is done involves a series of machines and cables to stretch, pull, and re-balance the spine. In addition, upon returning home I was asked to purchase a scoliosis traction chair to be strapped into for 2 hours every day. My friends I lived with at the time were more then helpful and helped me paint the back bedroom a funky purple and set up my "torture machine" (sorry that is what it looks like).
** Internet picture of a scoliosis traction chair but mine looked identical
I could go into an immense amount of detail about the clinic and my experience being hooked up to "the chair" for hours every day; however, sadly my condition did not respond favorably to the treatment. Nevertheless, I will not speak ill of my time at the clinic, I really do believe that Dr. Clayton will one day find a solution that will work for all patients and in the meantime he will continue to help those that he can.
A few months after returning from Lancaster I requested more x-rays from Dr. Mahood, in which I discovered my condition has progressed to 68 degree's (or so). It was at this point I choose to put myself on the long Canada waiting list for scoliosis surgery.
Fast Forward ... to the present day - I am now 20 days (March 5, 2014) away from Surgery to help correct my Scoliosis
No comments:
Post a Comment