The Doctors – Scoliosis Sufferer Gets Relief – Part 1

In seventh grade they were doing the standard testing for scoliosis. My gym teacher immediately noticed something was off with my back. They did scoliosis surgery in which they inserted a titanium rod and six screws down the middle of my spine to correct it from the 56 degree angle. And then about eight months after my surgery, I heard something snap. They rushed me to the hospital, and they said, yes, you have a hairline fracture in your titanium rod.

I was in the back brace from seventh grade up until tenth grade. Kids are cruel, and it’s not fun finding out in seventh grade that you have scoliosis, and all the activities that I had were taken away. For the past 15 years I have been living with this broken titanium rod in my back, and ever since then I’ve been in chronic pain.

See how one side sticks out further, and this side goes in, and this side of straight. My boyfriend Marcus helps me out tremendously.

It’s painful to see her in pain and not being able to do anything.

I’m very concerned about having kids. I’m not sure if I can even handle the weight of a baby. Lately I’ve been in so much pain that I have to be on the inversion table two or three times a day. I found out about Dr. Melamed, and I am just so excited to hear what he thinks he can do for me.

You want to go look at the X-rays now?

Yes.

Let’s go. You can see where the rods are broken. Three spots is broken.

What?

One here.

That’s even more than I thought.

But something like this is not life-threatening. Basically, it has to come down to how you feel, it’s affecting how much your pain you’re having. I don’t know exactly what we’re gonna do yet until we get more imaging studies. Basically, I’m going to set that imaging study.

I’ve been in back pain for so long that I just can’t imagine it being fixed.