Scoliosis...

My surgery was probably the most painful thing I have ever had done. I will never even have the words that could make someone understand what it was like other then if ever given the choice to have the surgery or not be able to walk, I would seriously consider the options.

I was watching a show last night called "Extreme Surgery" and they were covering surgeries to correct scoliosis. Unlike my surgery where I had fusion and instrumentation at 1 level these surgeries had fusion at multiple levels and instrumentation pretty much through the whole spine. What was more amazing is that the patients were young girls, probably 9 years old. I could not imagine having to go through all that at such a young age and all I could think was how scared those poor girls must have been.

At one point during the surgery they ran in to a problem when a computer they were using to check the function of the girls spine stopped working. Without the machine working properly they would not be able to check the function of the girls spine and would then have to perform what is called a "wake up." They would literally have to bring the girl out from anesthesia before they closed the incision and have her move her toes. Fortunately they did get the machine working at the last minute but they were cutting it close. I could not imagine having to be brought out from the anesthesia to have a test like that done. Wow!

In the end the surgery was quite a success and the doctors were even able to install a special rod that will "grow" as the girl grows though at some point in the future they will have to replace those rods with another set.

Watching these kids have to go through this is amazing. They bounce back quickly and are back to playing within weeks, like it never happened. I was still in bed a week after my surgery and it was probably 3 weeks before I even attempted to climb stairs let alone go running around. While it hurts to see children having to suffer with the pain and then surgery it is somewhat comforting to know that their little bodies heal so quickly, simply amazing.