Living with Scoliosis

I would like to dedicate this part of my life to Mr Papastefanou who carried out my amazing surgery

When did I know I had Scoliosis you might ask, well I think it was about four years ago by mistake really. I remember being at work and I moved to get something from my desk and my back locked which was very painful. 999 was called and I was taken to my local hospital by ambulance.

I remember being seen by the Consultant in A & E and was given some pain relief and sent for an x-ray and then the doctors examined the x-ray on my return. The Consultant came into the room where Mum and I were and said "Do you know that your spine is curved, you have what's called Scoliosis, a curvature of the spine" We were both shocked as we had not heard of Scoliosis. Then he bleeped the Spinal Unit and requested a Spine Specialist to come urgently to A & E. The Consultant came down and looked at the x-ray and he allowed me to go home with some painkillers (as there wasn't a bed available, otherwise I would of probably stayed overnight) for the night and to come back the following morning to the Spinal Assessment Clinic which we did.

The Consultant examined the x-rays again and agreed that I had Scoliosis stating that there was no need to do anything at the present time although he would monitor me closely for any changes to the curve. I attended the clinic on a regular basis had x-ray's and monitoring. I went to see the Consultant and he transferred me to see one of his colleagues. I first went to see this Consultant in May as far as I can remember; I was a bit nervous as I had not seen him before. He examined me and then he asked me if I could stand up as he wanted to send me for a full x-ray of my back.

We managed to do this although it took a while to get it right then we went back into see him. After he had looked at the x-rays and we had talked he said that I did not need anything doing at the moment although he wanted me to go back in 3-4 months. I went back to see the Consultant and had another x-ray and explained how I was and that I had started using my arm to help support myself because I felt as if I was sliding to one side more now and the amount of pain was increasing.