My "Back" Story

During my sophomore year of high school we had the routine back checks during P.E.  Thinking nothing of it I was surprised when I was called back a few days later for a second check.  I was then given a letter to take home to my parents which gave information on a free scoliosis screening in the next town over.  I don't remember much.  I think I had x-rays taken, bending measurements of my back with a scoliometer, and measuring my legs (one is shorter than the other because the curve in my spine pulls one hip higher than the other).  What I do recall is sitting there, for what seemed like forever, and feeling so frustrated that the doctors wouldn't just come out and say I have scoliosis and tell me what I needed to do.  They just sat there looking sullen and giving me looks of pity.  I was a teenager who was feeling impatient, awkward, and nervous.  Anyhow, this is one of my original x-rays when I was first diagnosed.

At this time my curves were 28 degrees thoracic and 24 degrees lumbar.

Finally, I was informed that I would need to see a doctor in the next biggest town.  From there they sent me on to the Seattle Children's Hospital where I was fitted for a back brace.  My Boston back brace looked almost just like this.
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It was worn under my clothes with a cotton liner between my skin and the brace and it buckled in the back.  I was instructed to wear it 23 hours a day.  I did not like it a bit but I was determined to do what I had to do.  I could go on about the negative impact it had on my self-image but I won't.  I choose to be more positive.  Bending was very limited. I felt a bit robotic. It was extremely HOT! As in temperature; definitely not sexy. At least I got to buy new clothes as the ones I had would not fit over the brace.

 Because of the significance of my curves and the fact that I was still growing I would need to wear a brace to try to stop the curves from getting worse.  Unfortunately my curves did get worse before I stopped growing. This is one of my later x-rays that shows where my curves were at when they stopped.  (34 degrees thoracic and 32 degrees lumbar)

 I wore my brace pretty faithfully for the prescribed 23 hours for all of my junior year.  After this time it appeared my curves had stopped getting worse.  My senior year I was told I could wear it just at night and I was monitored to make sure there was no progression.  I took it to college and wore it at nights my first year.  At this time I was told I was done growing, my scoliosis had stopped and I could go on with life and never worry about it again.  Yay!

Wait!  What?...

Flash forward into adulthood.  The pain which I had had in my neck during my youth had begun to move down my back into my shoulders.  My four pregnancies were the worst times for pain and stiff necks.  During these times I sought help from an orthopedic doctor and a chiropractor.  Nothing helped and they couldn't take x-rays because I was pregnant.  So I had no confirmation that my scoliosis had begun to worsen. When I wasn't pregnant, I was too busy with kids to bother going back to the doctor.  I could see the changes in my ribs, hips and shoulder.  I knew what I didn't want to know.

About a year ago (and 23 years after being diagnosed with scoliosis) my symptoms were no longer tolerable.  I couldn't sleep at night because of my shoulder and rib pain.  Driving would cause my back to spasm and send pains shooting down my arm.  I couldn't breathe well and I began having pain in my chest.  So, I finally decided to see my PCP.  His response, "Why did you wait so long to come in?"  I guess I've just lived with pain for so long I figured it was what my life was supposed to be.