Intro4u2u

Samantha was diagnosed with scoliosis, a condition that causes a person’s spine to curve too much, in sixth grade. Between sixth and ninth grades, she received treatment for her condition - sometimes at a hospital hundreds of miles away from her home. Samantha’s spine is now much straighter, and it will stay that way, thanks to a spinal fusion (an operation in which the vertebrae, the individual bones that make up a person’s spinal column, are joined together). In this personal story, Samantha shares her experience being treated for scoliosis.

I didn’t have to go to school for 2 months. While I was home, I napped a lot and took leisurely walks through the neighborhood. My grandma came to visit and my family waited on me. When I got back to school, my elevator privileges allowed me to skirt large, rowdy crowds in the hallways. I was the only person in my class who was excused from carrying a ton of books back and forth to school.

Now that things have returned to normal, there are times I wouldn’t mind going back to the leisurely life after my spinal fusion operation. But the road from diagnosis to treatment was also a mental and physical hardship much of the time. I guess you could say my experience was a “mixed bag.” It was often physically painful and emotionally taxing, but there were many rewarding moments as well.
The Learning Curve

I found out about the curve in my spine through a scoliosis screening that the school nurse conducted in sixth grade. My parents took me to see a doctor in Richmond, Virginia, and I was officially diagnosed with what was then a 25-degree curve (anything below 10 degrees is normal; 50 degrees requires corrective surgery).

Over the next 2 years, I wore two different kinds of back braces to keep my curve from getting worse. But despite the fact that I wore a brace every day, the curve in my spine continued to deteriorate. When my curve reached about 35 degrees, I continued my treatment at a hospital in Delaware. I visited the doctor every couple of months, and in the fall of my ninth grade year, my X-rays indicated that my curve wasn’t getting worse. At that point I assumed that I’d be like my mom, who also has scoliosis, but her curve is not severe enough to hinder her from accomplishing day-to-day tasks.

My parents and I were relieved, and we assumed that there wasn’t much more to worry about. Although my curve was significant, it didn’t pose any real threats to my health. The only way that it affected me was in my appearance. The S curve in my spine created a “hump” on the right side of my back. To someone who didn’t know about my scoliosis, I looked like I had terrible posture.

Over the next several months, though, my mom noticed that the hump in my back seemed to be getting worse. The next time I saw my doctor, the X-rays proved her right: My curve had gone from 35 to 52 degrees. My only option, according to the doctor, was to have a spinal fusion, because the curve had reached the point where it would begin to put pressure on my heart and lungs.