Hey! My name is Caila and I am 14 years old. Basically it all started with a 7th grade scoliosis screening test. Like most of my friends, I was expected to go in and get out as quickly as possible with nothing wrong. After I got checked by one of the screeners, she asked me to go to the woman next to us and have me checked again. At first all I could think of was "What?". I didn't ever think that I would have a curved spine or anything. So I went to the other lady and she told me that she thought I might have scoliosis and should go see my doctor..

When I went to see an orthopedist, he took X-rays of me to see how big my curve was. When he got them, I was so relieved. I had a very, very small curve and wouldn't need to wear a brace. He said he would check me again in November 2008 to see how I was doing. In November, the curve had gotten a little bit better. I figured by then I had absolutely nothing to worry about. Again, he said for me to come back. In July 2009, I went back expecting everything to go well. It didn't.

He took X-rays of me not standing with my back to the machine, but with my side to it. I did as I was told and when I got the news of the X-ray, I was devastated. Apparently, I was started to develop kyphosis, or getting a hunch back. And that was getting worse than my scoliosis. I couldn't believe it. At that moment all I could think of was that I was going to start High School soon and now I was going to have to wear a brace. Great. The freshman who was the hunchback of Notre Dame. I was crying when my mom told me and she was too. Even when she said I didn't have to wear it at school. Although that was such a relief to me, I was thinking about having to go out in public with that thing on my back at all times.

The rest of that summer was terrible. Every time I thought about wearing that thing all the time, I started to cry. I had no idea how I was going to tell my friends. Even though I was positive they would support me, it hurt to think that I would be so different from them.

When I went to go get my fitting as school was starting, I tried my best to keep a straight face. The lady who was measuring me for it told me that I was going to have a Milwaukee Brace. Whoop-dee-freakin-doo. The biggest and most noticable brace there was.

A few days before I got the thing (that's kind of a catchy name for it) I told my two best friends, Amber and Vanessa. I told them by texting, mostly because Amber moved away after eighth grade so I couldn't tell her in person at the time and also because I knew that if I did do it in person, I would start crying. And I did. They just didn't see. They were very supportive, like I knew they would be. It was nice to finally open up.

I got the thing on Thursday, October 8th. When I first saw it, I bit my tongue to keep from crying. It looked so ugly. I knew that it would be super noticable under my clothes. When I first tried it on, it felt like I was in a cage. It was so hard to move in and it felt so tight. But still, I put on a happy face when I wanted to jump out the window and run. I was wearing a sweatshirt that day and when I put it on, I was amazed. You couldn't see it. Not really anyways. Here I was, expecting this giganton thing and you couldn't see it. Thank God for cold weather because whenever I am going to wear the thing I could just wear a sweatshirt over and you won't be able to tell.

Even though I just got my brace, I'm really starting to get used to it. Although, I'm only wearing it for a few hours at a time right now, it's really not that bad. Of course, I have it easy because I don't have to wear it at school. My advice to anyone who's getting a brace soon is to really just think positively. It might sound impossible at the moment, but trust me, it won't be that bad. Also, to those of you who do have to wear it at school, I recommend reading the book Deenie, by Judy Blume. It helped me so I'm sure it will return the favor to you too. I'll update whenever I can.

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