Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

Here I am on a sunny day, sitting in the college library, supposedly writing an essay about how the 'highly sexualized ' nature of Tifa Lockheart and Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII is in fact not a bad thing despite what feminist theorists say, and I'm distracted. I'm distracted because this chair is about as comfortable as sitting on a bag filled with hamsters and no-name brand Jell-O. I'm distracted because I'm suffering some serious heartache (which, I might add, I can almost work into an entirely different post about scoliosis). But most of all I'm distracted because the computers here are very close together and I can't shake the feeling that the guy sitting next to me can read everything I'm writing. If that is so then he knows a lot of personal things that I'll probably have to kill him to protect. Here's the deal with today's post. I've been fighting with this heartache issue for a while now, probably because...

ScoliosisJournal have just released a new white paper regarding The Trunk Appearance Perception Scale (TAPS): a new tool to evaluate subjective impression of trunk deformity in patients with idiopathic scoliosis Authors: Juan Bago Judith Sanchez-Raya, Franciso Javier Sanchez, Perez-Grueso, Jose Maria Climent Background Outcome assessment in idiopathic scoliosis should probably include patients' perception of their trunk deformity in addition to self-image. This can be accomplished with the Walter Reed Visual Assessment Scale (WRVAS). Nevertheless, this instrument has some shortcomings: the drawings are abstract and some figures do not relate to the corresponding radiological deformity. These considerations prompted us to design the Trunk Appearance Perception Scale (TAPS). Methods Patients with idiopathic scoliosis and no prior surgical treatment were included. Each patient completed the TAPS and SRS-22 questionnaire and underwent a complete radiographic study of the spine...

It all started off so well! Monday morning, get up, start the week with a great breakfast, cup of coffee, let the chickens out into their coop, grab the diary and work out the whens, wheres and whys of what needs to be done. So off I went into town as I had to post some Mobi orders out to Slovakia, so I parked outside the post office in my trusty diasbled spot, walked to the shop to buy my brown wrapping paper and bubble wrap, went to the bank and paid some bills - everything going OK so far, I have not done anything particularly strenuous, the bags I was carrying were not heavy and I was wearing flat shoes (as always!). I spent a good 20 minutes wrapping the items I needed to post and then a further 30 minutes in the queue waiting to send them! I then went from there and did some supermarket shopping, again nothing strenuous or stressful, I didn´t rush around the supermarket or lift anything over heavy, however, I was in and out of the car yesterday so I don´t think this helped, ...

Yesterday was a bad pain day. Admittedly, I could very easily be a drug addict, I take morphine for breakthrough pain which, these days, is happening more and more. I've never abused my drug privileges mostly because of the terrifying fear that one misstep with any narcotic will suddenly cause my brain to warp into a large fungal covered sponge with droopy green jell-O-like soup in which for it to stew. That fear, along with the whole 'losing-control-of-my-life' fear, have combined to make me very cautious with my medication, even on days when I wake up and just know that it's going to be a bad pain day. I can always tell, something doesn't feel right. That normal humpitude sensation on my right side somehow feels more pronounced, like a small armadillo has attached itself to my back and then died. Meanwhile that delicate area of my entire spine just aches, plain old aches, aches like an old leather shoe. I mean, metaphorically if this shoe had an entire nervous sy...

I was contacted by a Dr who is interested in Scoliosis Overcompensation Syndrome, as defined by the author Elisabeth Mina. Dr Ewa Misterska is a psychologist from the Department of Pediatric Orthopaedics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland. She received her doctor's degree from Characteristics of selected psychic functions in patients treated conservatively or operatively for idiopathic scoliosis. Below is a white paper she has sent me for publication. Author: Ewa Misterska Characteristics of selected psychic functions in patients treated conservatively or operatively for adolescent  idiopathic scoliosis. Department of Pediatric Orthopaedics Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Poznan The objective of the paper was to evaluate differences in the functioning of patients with idiopathic scoliosis shortly after taking up various forms of treatment as compared to a group of healthy volunteers. The evaluation concerned the level of social competences and ...

Well, it has been a long time coming for various reasons, one of them being I needed to grab myself by the balls and work towards an appointment to see Dr Evan Davies. I have been nervous as I am sure you can imagine, but the time has come where I need to know if I can have revision surgery and remove this pain or not. I have been so used to guiding and helping people for years that I put myself to one side, not that I am complaining of course, in fact, if I am honest I have been hiding behind others for many years, trying to avoid surgery for myself, now it is my time to take the walk and go see a Dr to find out if he can help me. I came across Dr Davies from a lady who found our Facebook group for " How To Look Good Twisted ", we had a chat on the phone and she explained what her revision surgery involved and what Dr Davies was like. I will not mention her name because I am not 100% sure she would like me to! After we had our chat I came to realise she was also a previo...

Hello there, Internet ! My name is Kathleen, and like a solid percentage of you I'm a scoliosis suffer. I'm pleased (note: insanely thrilled) to be joining Scoliosis Nutty as a contributor and share in what I think we can all agree is a pretty irritating ailment to be suffering from (to say the least). I was diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis at age eleven and by the age of thirteen my curvature had hit 75 degrees. Between then and now I've had 5 surgeries in an attempt to correct my spine (which I've long since decided has not only a mind of its own, but probably a small community of tiny people whose sole goal in life is to make me miserable in any way possible). I'm twenty now, with still one, possibly two surgeries to look forward to in the future. I've done the Boston brace (three times, the third met its demise as a very fine scratching post for my cats) I've had the Harrington rods and then swiftly had them removed (part of it now sits upstairs i...

Is it ever appropriate for a stranger to ask you what's wrong with you? I went to the bank in some pain today, and I was limping. The teller asked me if I'd had foot surgery, and I ignored her. Then she said she had foot surgery last year, and I figured I'd better answer her so I wouldn't seem rude. I just said, "I need back surgery." Short, simple truth. Maybe I should've just said, "I had back surgery," as that would have been the truth, too. As I left, she told me to take care of myself, and I could tell she was sincere, and not trying to be rude, at least not deliberately. But I just find it really irritating to be asked personal questions by total strangers. The employees there may consider it making conversation and good customer service, but I think it's nosy and rude. But maybe I was just being a bitch because I was in pain? Feedback, please. What would you do? Ignore, lie, or tell the truth?