Hi there, Lyssie here and I just thought I would share with you my Scoliosis experience and what-not.

In the year 2001 aged 10, I fell down the stairs and was in agony the next day. Me and my mum thought I'd caused some damage and so we went to the GP. My GP made me to the forward bend test and found a small curve in my spine. She told me this as Scoliosis and refered me to an orthopeadic Dr at my local hospital.
The Dr took an Xray and my curve showed something between 10 and 20 degrees (a curve of 10 degrees or more is Scoliosis). She told me she's keep an eye on my spine and to come back in a years time. So I did...
And my Scoliosis was worse, something between 20 and 30 degrees. I was sent to physio but nothing was actually done about my Scoliosis, like bracing. It was mentions but never done.
I went back and the Dr told me that I had stopped growing so the curves should not get any worse. She agreed to see me a year later and sure enough my Scoliosis had got worse. It was now between 30 and 40 degrees. The Dr didn't know what to do next so she referedme onto a specialist Spinal consultant Surgeon and by the time I saw Mr Lam, my curves were at 44 and 23 degrees. Mr Lam told me that this would carry on getting worse so offeredme surgery and I accepted.

In August 2006, I went along to Guy's Hospital and the day after being admitted I underwent an anteior spinal fusion surgery. Surgery lasted 6 hours, one rib removed, my lung deflated and diaphragm taken down all in order to get to my spine. The rib was used as bone graft to fuse my spine then 5 titanium screws and one rod was attached and my spine straightened.

I woke up in intensive care with plenty of bleeping macines around me, an oxygen mask over my face and my dad sitting beside me. I was drifting in and out of conciousness. On the 3rd day in the ICU, I was allowed back up to my private room on the ward and later I was sitting up. Which was sore but felt good.
The next day I took my first steps and that was it... I was off on my own walking about the ward. The same day my morphine pump was removed.
On day 5, my catheter was taken out and so was my chest drain. This didn't hurt, it just felt a bit strange.

Day 6 I was doing excercises with my physiotherapist and then was allowed home on day 7. My mum drove me home and was very careful as not to hurt me. Which was extremely hard.

After surgery, I wasn't allowed to bent lift or twist for 9 whole months wich my fusion took place.

Meanwhile in November 2007, I began to have shooting pains in what I thought was the rod in my spine. I had pains below my fusion which was pretty bad. It took a while to get an appointment with my surgeon, Mr Lam but in the end I went privately and had an Xray which showed that my fusion was fine and my spine nice and straight. But this didn't explain the cause of my pain so I was sent for an MRI scan.

The MRI showed wear and tear in my spine and a dehydrated disk. I was diagnosed with facet joint syndrome and was given some pain killers to help and was refered to physio therapy to help strengthen my spine and core stability muscles.

The pain didn't go away so I had facet joint and nerve root block injections as I was also having leg pains..........

6 weeks later, I am to see my spinal surgeon and see what happens next...,