Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

I'm in a bit of a miserable place right now, so I thought I would tap into some sarcasm and make myself, and hopefully you loverly Scoliotics, giggle a bit. The fact of the matter is that at some point we probably have to have a surgery. If we're spectacularly unlucky we might have two, or three. Keep in mind by the time you hit 4-9 surgeries, you should probably order yourself a plastic bubble and black out your windows. Personally, I am still waiting for my order for military grade food supplies that I can keep in my bomb shelter. So, with that in mind, how exactly do we survive a surgery? What sort of ungodly horrors await us and what can we do to make the experience a little more bearable? Follow this guide and I assure you, your hospital experience will be...average, really. I mean, none of this is going to actually make it better because, let's face it, the only way to make any surgery better is to be told that while the doctors were inside you they decided to install...

I have been meaning to blog about the meeting we had in February for the UK Scoliotics since returning but life has been so hectic I have just not had the time! So please don't shoot the messenger here for being late on her blogging ;) We met at La Tasca in Victoria, London at lunch time on the 19th February, we had a great turnout with people coming from all over the UK and of course Spain! I have listed the people who attended below. Maria from Uttoexeter, Staffordshire Megan from Cambridgeshire Judith from Mill Hill, London Linda from Croxley Green, Watford Krysie from Coventry Karen from Hurst Green Simone & Chris Icough from Spain  Evi from London Lisa from Kent Janice from Sunderland Gail from Hull Janet from London Alana from Spain The venue itself were very helpful, they threw in some free jugs of Sangria, (which seemed to go to Maria's head - hahahaha, although I think she enjoyed it ;) and 5 pounds off the menu price per head, we had a great ...

A friend of mine on Facebook has just started a new petition and as we like to get involved in anything to do with Scoliosis here we decided to give them some help online so we can spread the word and get as many signatures as we can. So, we now need YOU - the twisted community to get on board and sign the petition for "Scoliosis checks in UK secondary schools" - we also like to see this petition is using the same slogan that we also promote on the wristbands " Speak up for Scoliosis " - so do your bit today and sign that petition! Thanks my lovelies!

Life never fails to be interesting for me on the medical front. Wednesday I met my mom in Calgary; my first cortisone injection was bright and early Thursday morning. So we get to the Holy Cross and find the Advanced Spinal Care Centre, which, incidentally, is in the basement and as such I'm fairly certain qualifies as at least one of the many circles of hell. I'm trying to stay up beat and overly Mary Poppinsish in my outlook, so I bound up to the desk and proudly proclaim "I have an appointment at 9:30! Last name Sawisky, first name Kathleen!" (Unfortunately the five piece band I had hired to announce my arrival turned out to be double booked.) That was when it all went to hell in a hand basket. The receptionist looks at me, to the desk, to the tower of file folders beside her, flips one open and then turns back to me to say "We've been trying to contact you for three days." Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no no no. "We don't have your requisition for...

"...To talk of many things! Of meds and splints and spinal facts! Of surgeries and dreams! And how much a curvy spine can suck and how we deal with things! " It was an interesting sort of holiday season. The sort of interesting that ends with a person spending two and a half days at a bus depot, sleeping on the floor, making friends with random strangers, and doing your gosh-darned best not to lose your mind. Lambchops tiddliwinks. I mean-! I spent the solid portion of the last week trying to get back into the school mood. New classes, more work than last semester, I need to get a part time job, I'm still trying to get my writing to professional standards and, oh! What's this? An appointment with the Advanced Spinal Care Center in Calgary for cortisone injections? This week? What?! Yes, apparently time itself decided to speed up because I had no idea it would be so soon (and consequently told my teachers that, and I quote "will be going away sometime in the ne...

Hey everyone! Hi to everyone, especially Simone! Oh my holy ghost. I totally forgot about this blog for about a year, I hope I'm still welcome! Truth is... I lost my password. But now I'm back :) Just tell me to get lost if you like hahaha, I totally ditched the scoliosis community for a long time! Well just to let you know, my spine is now at 16 degrees both curves (i think) and has been for the past year or so. I am still undergoing bracing -.- which is so very very annoying and really hard on hot scorching days like this! But I will probably be done with bracing and with worrying about scoliosis for life by February! Which will be really exciting for me, for my 16th birthday I will be brace free! I haven't been brace free since the 7th of March 2008. Anyway I'm sorry I was momentarily lost in cyberspace, I promise I will still keep in touch after I'm done with my brace and answer first-timer brace-wearers' questions. I have about 3 years experience with braci...

... And a Merry-Countdown-to-the-New-Cycle-of-Days-Weeks-and-Months! Some of you may be looking at the time stamp and be asking yourselves, Just what sort of ten flavors of pathetic is Kathleen to be writing a blog on Christmas Day... at 1:00 pm? Well, I would list out said ten flavors of pathetic but really, that would just be another few minutes of me on the internet instead of gorging myself with the various delectable goodies that my Grandma is currently setting out for the family to enjoy. And as a grandma, she knows what sort of goodies are required for any and all occasions (Weddings? Petit-fours! Funerals? Casseroles with potato chip crusts! Just kidding, as Canadians we do not approve of potato chips on our casseroles.) The long and short of it my fellow Scoliotics, is that it is the holiday season, and as such we are often told to take a moment and consider the grandeur that we all have, and how lucky we are to be spending the holiday's with the ones we love (or, in som...