Hello! My name is Jordan and I am a 14 year old female from Indiana. I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was 10 by my pediatrition. For a few months my doctor monitored my curve, which was in the low 20's. He said that if my curve got to be any higher than 25 degrees, that I would have to be braced.

When I came back to the doctor 3 months later my curves were both above 25. I started crying because I knew that meant I would have to wear a brace. I was devastated. So my doctor referred me to another doctor who specialized in making braces for kids with scoliosis. He made my brace and I was ordered to wear 23 out of 24 hours a day, which made me really mad because it was so big and bulky, and I had to wear it to school. I was so scared that the other kids would make fun of me, but they didn't.

After about 6 months of wearing the brace I went back to my doctor so he could take some x-rays of my back to see if the brace was working. I was so sure that my curve was going to have gone down tremendously, but it got worse. Everyone was shocked, especially me because I had been wearing that stupid thing for 6 months non-stop and it was doing absolutely nothing for me. About a year later, we found out that the guy who made my brace made it wrong....ON PURPOSE. I was so angry. We eventually found out that he was a fake. He was making these braces wrong on purpose so that he could get more money. After we found that out, we sued the guy, and started seeing another doctor. I eventually got another Boston brace made and continued wearing it for another 2 years.

I just went to another doctor, who is really great, at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, IL. We found out that my curves are both in the fifties, and that I will be having a spinal fusion on June 28, 2005. I am really scared. I will be going to a pre-op appointment May 25 to find out if i will be having a posterior or anterior fusion. I am really scared because I dont know what to expect.

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