My Name is Melissa and I have scoliosis. I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was in second grade because I was in the hospital due to asthma and allergies and they took an x-ray of my chest to see if anything was there to affect my breathing and noticed that I had scoliosis.

Scoliosis does run in my family, but I am the only one who has it past 10 degrees. After that I had to get 4 MRI’s so they can have a better look. After the MRI’s my dad was diagnosed with cancer and I didn’t pay much attention to my back. About 2 years later my older sister had a doctors appointment with her scoliosis doctor and my mom wanted me to get checked too. At that point I had a 38 and 35 degrees curve and it was pretty bad considering I was only in third grade.

The doctors wanted to keep a close eye on my back and about 2 years later they said that I will need a brace. I wore my brace for 15 hours a day. After a year my mom and dad wanted a second opinion and went to another doctor, he took another x-ray and when he came back he shook his head and said stop wearing the brace, your curves are in the 50s, you need surgery. The Next week I saw my regular doctor and he went over everything I need to know about surgery and we scheduled a date for it. About a month later my doctor told me that all the weight from my curve has fractured a disk in my spine and the second to last one is slipping so I now need a catscan and when I get my surgery they have to go lower and it might take a little bit longer.

Right now I am patiently waiting for my surgery on January, 7 2008.

Back to Scoliosis Stories