Hi my name is Shannon. I am now 17 but I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was 14. I had undergone regualar scoliosis checks every year from the school nurse. When the nurse told me that she thought I had scoliosis I was surprised.

My mom made an appointment with my family doctor right away. They agreed that i did indeed have scoliosis. They told us about a really good doctor that was about 30 min away from were we live. My mom made an appointment right away. The docter ordered x-rays that confirmed that I had a 42 degree curve. He recomended another doctor, who was a specialist in pediatric scoliosis. This doctor was located about an hour away from my house.

After reviewing my x-rays the new doctor was unsure of what to do. I was almost done growing so the chance that a brace would work was slim. To avoid surgery we decided to try the brace. I wore my brace for about 2 years. It was a boston brace they said. The curve did improve, but not for long. After we eased up on the brace wearing, my spinal curve spiraled out of control. My curve went from 36 degrees to 52 degrees in about 6 months. The brace was no longer working and the doctor decided I needed surgery.

On July 21, 2006, I was admitted into Westchester Childrens Hospital for my surgery. The hospital was 2 1/2 away from all my friends and family so it was really hard for them to come and visit. While in the hospital, I experienced some problems. The anesthesia i was on made me very sick and I was throwing up for 2 days. Then the pain medication I was on made me constipated. I got backed up with gas and was throwing up blood. The doctors almost had to put a tube down my nose to release the gas. I ended up spending 3 extra days in the hospital.

Two weeks after the surgery, the bottom of my insision started to ooze yellow puss, there for indicating an infection. My back was in constant pain. The doctor said that it should subside soon, but it never did. About 3 months after my surgery, I started getting golf ball size lumps on the bottom of the insision. They would go away after a while but they were painful.

Finally, around christmas time an exceptionaly large one developed and it wasn't going away. It was also putting extra stress on my back so it constantly hurt. We went to the doctor and he drained what we called "the bubble". He sent the fluid to the lab to find out what it was. We didn't hear back from him, untill we went to see him about the second large bubble. He said that I had a very serious staph infection that has developed. I started heavy oral antibiotics in late January of 2007. The antibiotics worked, but as soon as they were gone the bubbles would come back again. After about almost 8 months on the oral anitbiotics, my mom took me to a infection specialist. He said that the infection had created a slime on the rods and screws and that it would be very hard to treat. He said that it was a 60% chance i would need more surgery, to clear the infection. However there was another option. That option was IV antibiotics. We decided to go for it. As of October 2007, I am a High school senior with a IV (aka: a pick line) sticking out of my arm. The doctors said the infection has gotten better, but they aren't promising anything. All four years of high school I have had medical problems. From 9th to 10th grade I was in a brace. 11th grade I had surgery, and the beginning of 12th grade I have a pick line. I also have not been able to compete with my cross country team since 10th grade.

UPDATE - October 26, 2008
Well I am now 18 years old and a high school graduate and it turns out that we fired the infectious disease doctor because his staff was terrible along with his service. It also turns out that the pick line wasn't really working either.

On Feb 29, 2008 I had to get another surgery to remove the infected rods. My doctor had a feeling that the last screw was close to my aortic artery, so we took a CAT Scan just to double check. And just to be on the safe side my doctor made sure that the vascular surgeon was there just in case he had any issues with the screws and artery. The original plan was for my doctor was to just clean up the rods and take out the infected screw, but if he had to he would be taking out the rods as well. I guess he had to because the infection was so bad on my left side.

Everything went fine with removing the T12 screw (which was the one they thought was close to the artery) but it was T11 screw that was the problem. While removing the T11 screw it nicked my aortic artery and i started to bleed from it. The doctors called the vascular surgeon in who patched up the artery, just as they were closing my incision, my blood pressure dropped dangerously low. They had to turn down the anesthesia, and give me an emergency angeogram to make sure the patch was still on the artery. When I got out of the OR there was a nurse that had to sit next to me and could not leave my side until i got into my ICU Room. There I was on constant monitor and i even had a crash cart out side my room.

Now to make matters worse, it has been about 9 months since my 2nd surgery and my spine has started to curve again. Looks like more surgery is in my future!

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