You, Me & Scoliosis

So, thought I'd do a post to let you all know how I found out about Scoliosis & how you can look out for it!  So the first time i thought something was a bit funny about the way I looked, was when standing in Zara, I was standing in front of my mum when she noticed my shoulders were uneven & that i was standing slantingly. Her first instinct was that I was possibly growing more on one side than the other & we had never even heard of scoliosis so it didn't even entered our heads! I had a suspicion it had something to do with my back, so Mum made me an appointment with our local GP. As soon as he looked at my back, he knew exactly what it was, Scoliosis. He referred me onto a consultant, Mr. Hamilton. He did a number of things, X-rays, MRIs etc.. He confirmed the scoliosis diagnosis. I had a double major curve standing, at the time, at 54 degrees and 56 degrees. This was quite a shock to us who had never even heard of Scoliosis! I was told by Mr. H that I would be fitted for a Boston Brace, commonly used for trying to slow down the progression of the curves. I was to wear the brace for one year, wearing it 24/7...not ideal at all! Anyway, a year passed & still my curves got worse, the brace was then ditched & I was left to tick along in everyday live until just before my 18th birthday. I had another appointment to see Mr. H at which he told me my curves had progressed by 10 degrees.. I was then at this point put on the waiting list for surgery. Another year went by, I went off to the University of Aberdeen to start my Law degree & meet so many amazing people! Through the winter my back got sore from the cold weather which resulted in heading to physio once a week which helped relieve a lot of the tension my curves were putting on my back. I then carried on with my daily life, when a phone call came from my Mum, the day before my 19th birthday (always around my birthday for goodness sake!) anyway, the call was from Mr. Shaw, a consultant from the Royal National Orthopaedic  Hospital in London saying he would do my surgery & that I would be meeting with him on the 25th of June to arrange my visit to London for my surgery. So on I went on the 25th with my Nana Martha, & best friend of 15 years, Catherine. I had X rays, ECGs, Blood Tests, and after all the poking and prodding was finished I met with my Surgeon, his assistant & Anesthetist. It was agreed that I would have two surgeries, one approach through my ribs on the 2nd of September & the second approach down the middle of my back done on the 9th of September. I would then head home back to Belfast in Ireland 2 weeks after the 1st surgery. And that takes us to now, patiently waiting for my surgery day to come...

                                                                                                                  xxLJ