Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

Dammit, I promised myself I wouldn't cry. Mom and I drove to Tulsa and flew to St. Louis. Completely uneventful. Up early the next morning, called the shuttle to the hospital so we wouldn't have to worry about parking and grabbed breakfast in the cafeteria. Let me tell you something. Barnes Jewish is the biggest hospital I've ever seen. No joke, the building I was in is 20 stories high and all of the buildings cover SEVEN CITY BLOCKS. This place was GINORMOUS. I got two new x-rays taken. Oh, I forgot to mention, I was in excruciating pain THE ENTIRE TRIP. So I couldn't stand up straight (especially without my shoes) during the x-rays. I didn't bother to tell the radiologists or Dr. STL, I don't really know why. I was amazed to see the x-ray up on the lightboard. My bones are so off center when I am in pain. It was a good thing I stood like that, though. None of my previous x-rays had shown that my L4 vertebra is a good 1-1.5 cm to the left of my L3 ...

I've been thinking about how to introduce myself to you all a lot over the past few days. I suppose I'm overthinking things. I don't have to tell you all my entire life story in one post, and my current pain level doesn't allow me to type that long, anyway. Let me start off with this, then. I had spinal fusion surgery from T10 to L3 in July 1996. I only got health insurance a year ago, so I just decided last summer to get a doctor and have a checkup and a new set of x-rays. (It had been 10 years.) Long story short, I'm having another surgery next month. It's been twelve years since my first surgery, so my memories are a little fuzzy now. I was under the impression that the first surgery would cure my scoliosis, end my pain, and not limit my activities at all. I only realized the other day when reading Simone's story that this has happened to others. I'm not quite sure if my first surgeon actually told me this, or if I just assumed it and no one ever told...

I have been approached via my website from someone in India who needs help finding a surgeon. I do not have much knowledge on surgeons for Scoliosis in India and would really like to help this person, I decided to write a blog post and see if I can attract the attention of anyone who would have good advice on surgeons in India, where she should go for surgery in India and who would be recommended in India to perform the surgery. Personally, I would have thought that Deli would have a good selection of top spine surgeons who could help this lady who has a 59º curve, surgery is considered when a spinal curvature peaks over 50º, I do know that many Indian back specialists train in the UK, some stay and work in the UK and others go back to India and work there. Perhaps there is a surgeon in the USA that is doing pro bono work, I have heard of many top USA surgeons going to other countries and performing surgeries on people who desperately need help. If anyone has any advice or suggestions,...