Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

I just sent this letter to the Authorities of the Alberta Health Services. I believe it speaks for all of us in some way or another. Dear Authorities of the Alberta Health Services, Thank you so much for your prompt response on my referral to the Calgary Pain Clinic. I was so pleased to be referred back in October of 2009 to your stunning facility. In January of 2010 I received your gargantuan questionnaire requiring me to tell you not only about my pain but also any suspicious activities I believe my neighbours have been up to recently. Thank god you did because I'm fairly certain the family next door might be passing secrets to Nazi Germany. I don't have the heart to tell them that the war has been over for several years, after all, elderly people need something to occupy their time, and I can't quite understand what 2/3 of your lovely survey actually have to do with my patient care. Fortunately all the back surgeries and chronic pain have given me a lovely sense of humor...

Another bad back week; for some reason the last month has been a bit more rough than its predecessors. My theories are as follows: 1) The stress from school ending, work getting hectic, and my cat nearly croaking has caused some sort of strange pain increase that doesn't really make sense but hey, who am I to argue? Or 2) Aliens have begun to carefully harvest the muscles in and around my back during the night in order to create a duplicate of me on Mars so they may cultivate a new humanity with myself as the almighty and benevolent ruler. I'm thinking it must be one but secretly I'm rooting for two. Of course, with my pain fluctuating so much recently my mom and I have begun to once again wonder where the heck our appointment for the pain clinic in Calgary is? I received the paper work for it way back in January and sent it in fairly promptly. When I called last month the obligatory irate secretary sounded completely miffed that I'd have the nerve to assume that thre...

Hey, fellow ScoNuts. Sorry for my lack of posts, but minus the surgery, there's nothing very interesting about my day-to-day life. At least, nothing none of you aren't already painfully familiar with. I moved in with my boyfriend, and he's being wonderful to me. He does everything for me, despite my protests; consequently, I have become even more sedentary (I didn't realize that was possible), so my pain has skyrocketed. I know I'm gaining weight, too. I still don't have insurance, but I have the option to buy a policy from the company that used to insure me. Of course, who's going to insure me with a spine like mine? At best, it'll be labeled a preexisting condition and excluded completely. So I have to apply and be approved for disability before I can go back to St. Louis, and God only knows how many years that will take. Dr. Bones wanted me to wait ten more years, and now it looks like I might have to. :( I've got some tips about good disabi...

Medical marijuana debate has multiple dimensions: medical, political, personal Linda Yelvington rattles off her list of ailments: Severe scoliosis. A prosthetic hip. Cervical degenerative disc disease. DeQuerin’s syndrome in both wrists. Arthritis. Breathing problems from diminished lung capacity because of scoliosis. The 54-year-old woman then rattles off a list of painkillers she has taken for her health problems. Author: Derek Spellman Linda Yelvington rattles off her list of ailments: Severe scoliosis. A prosthetic hip. Cervical degenerative disc disease. DeQuerin’s syndrome in both wrists. Arthritis. Breathing problems from diminished lung capacity because of scoliosis. The 54-year-old woman then rattles off a list of painkillers she has taken for her health problems. “None of them are working right,” Yelvington said of the legal drugs, listing some of their side effects. It has been several months since she has taken her preferred painkiller — marijuana — because it's not le...

I'm still counting down - 75 days left. Things to look forward to after surgery, other than pain relief: 1. Having a bra that fits properly. 2. Wearing any pair of shoes I want, without having to get an expensive lift put on. 3. Not having my legs fall asleep all the time (hopefully). 4. Sleeping better! 5. No more limping! 6. No backaches from doing the laundry or dishes, showering, or anything else that requires standing for long periods. 7. Better posture. Things to dread: 1. The insane medical bills. 2. Changes in my ability to bathe, dress, and move. Other than the money ($50,000 and up), everything else I can deal with. At least, I think so. I'm currently fused from T10-L3. It's going to be revised and continued, from T4-S1. Does anyone out there have a fusion this complex? I really want to know what it's like to be fused this much, so I know what to expect. Comment me here or hit me up on Twitter, @oddcupcake.

I am now 3 days into taking my new treatment and while I have not noticed any significant changes in my body I think it is too early to tell, I was told I may need a double dose to get me started so we will wait and see. It would appear I am going to have a run of bad luck with the old Twisted Spine! My go faster stripes are not working and I am slowing down. I am having considerable amounts of pain in my lumbar, right where my donor site scar is, I cannot relax without feeling HUGE pressure on the scar, which is very painful and makes me catch my breath. I even had problems on the toilet this morning and that just gets me frustrated, the simplest of actions that any normal person takes for granted is such an effort for me this week and I end up getting really pissed off!!!!!!! I had to drive my Mother to the airport earlier because Chris is up to his eyes with work so he needed to stay home and finish his "to do list", I have to say it was the most painful drive of my life, ...

Scoliosis support group I had my third Bowen treatment last Tuesday and I go for treatment number 4 tomorrow, for my Scolisois and as usual I am looking forward to making myself better each week. I am still feeling strange when I stand and walk due to the straight feeling of my legs and pelvis, laying down was much easier but I still need a cushion under my legs and head. We worked on my respiratory last week and she is greatly concerned about the damp spores that we have in the bedrooms. Last week, the day after my treatment I bleached the wardrobe in our bedroom and got rid of all the damp spots on the ceiling and walls, I did not weeze as much after that, trouble is I am still not sleeping well and getting into the spare bed for a couple of hours early morning and the damp spores in there are very rife so I need to tackle that room this week to help my breathing. I await to see what she thinks of my body shape this week. I have a few new pains to report, one that shoot across my low...

Scoliosis Support Website and Group I had my second Bowen treatment today for my Scolisois and I was looking forward to it. Since starting Bowen my legs have leveled out, they were way off before and I would reckon it to be about 4cm between each leg, we did attempt to measure it but it is not easy to measure your leg lengths so we did each leg a few times and then took an average. The only part I do not like is having to lay on the table on my back, it feels like someone is pulling my spinal cord which makes me very uncomfortable and makes my back arch slightly, however, she has to do this to make sure that my legs really are the same length and she was amazed at how well my body had responded to the treatment, she was not expecting the legs to be level already! My therapist also worked on my breathing today as I have been complaining of that recently and I wake weezing, we have a damp problem which is causing spores and this is not helping my respiratory at all - time to get out the...

Scoliosis Support Website It has been 2 days since I last wrote and life has got slightly easier since I have had my first Bowen session . Wednesday was a hard day and early morning but by Thursday night I was able to move my head from side to side again and the neck pain has subsided, when I came back on Tuesday I was in agony and couldn't look left or right without moving my whole body. I went to bed at 1.30 on Wednesday morning and woke at 6am, took some Ibuprofen and got into the spare bed and made myself a little pillow camp and settled there until waking at 9am, I cancelled my appointment to see the Orthopaedic Dr in Benalmadena because the car alarm went a bit dodgy and we couldn't get the windows up, on the dash it said all 4 doors were open and the indicators kept flashing so I could hardly drive the car and park in a public car park and leave the windows open! I got back into bed - yes you hear me right, I got back into bed and slept until 11am, I was so amazed as I h...

I was writing on my website yesterday about Flavonoids and I quote "Many flavonoids, as in parsley, have a diuretic action; some as in licorice, are antispasmodic and anti inflammatory; others are antiseptic." Anyway, my period started 2 days ago and I was feeling good about that because usually I have immense pain from my Scoliosis when my period comes and because it was day 2 and I had, had no pain I was feeling really happy about that and I wondered if that had anything to do with the licorice I had been eating the week leading up to my period? The happy times didn't last long as last night the pain was soooooo awful and I didn't know what to do with myself, shifting around in my seat, then standing up and walking around with my hands grasping my lower back, then the tears came, but I wasn't crying (if you know what I mean), the pain was so intense that water just started coming from my eyes, I am in too much pain to actually cry - that would jar my back too m...

Had terrible pains when I woke up yestreday morning, I was unable to straighten myself without terrible pains lower middle back so I stayed in bed all day, took some ibuprofen 400mg and a heat pad on my back and then later when I felt up to it I had a bath, even wiping my bottom proved difficult. I awoke this morning and felt somewhat better but still walking bent over, unable to straighten myself, so long as I walk very gingerly I am OK, any sharp movements cause havoc!