So here’s a 10 year old girl who occasionally would hear about the unexpected things that could happen to someone. She knew someone who had heart problems and another who couldn’t bare a child. She wished nothing as life-changing would happen to her since she lived a life without breaking bones or unfortunate events. But how many wishes do you know actually come true?
During a family get together her aunt was giving her fickle on her back. Fickle was a relaxation technique the family created which is when you lightly glide the tip of your fingers against the person’s skin. Doing this the aunt realized that her spine wasn’t straight.
Her parents took precaution and got it checked out. The doctor gave them the news that she had scoliosis. It is when you have a curvature in your spine. There are different curves; there is the “S” curve where there are 2 curves and there is the “C” curve where there is only 1 curve. You know how in math there are degree angles? That is how the curves are measured. You can go from a miniature 10 degree angle to a more severe 60 degree angle which is what she was close to having is nothing was done to stop it.
The decision was made for the girl to get a back brace to slightly make the curve smaller. She had to wear it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week which took a lot to get used to. The brace made her uncomfortable but she did it for 2 years. The only thing good about it was that she ended up getting a 4-pack from it.
When she got a bit older the doctor felt she was ready for the surgery that would put 2 metal rods against her spine to make it straight.
After spending about 7 hours in the surgery room and a week in the hospital for therapy, it was still not over. She needed a month of recovery in her house to get back to herself again. She could barely walk, taking a lot longer than usual to walk down the hallway.
After a few months, she was back to herself again; She went back to school and hung out with her friends again. Life after surgery was similar to life before the surgery. But don’t ask her to do crunches or reach over to touch her toes because she doesn’t have the mobility in her lower back to do it. How do I know all of this? Because that girl is me.
