A Conversation about Scoliosis Surgery

Hi are you having scoliosis spinal fusion surgery and looking for a place to tell you what it is really like. You are not concerned about all the Dr. lingo, or all the doctor stuff, you just want somebody who has experienced it themselves to tell you what it's really like. If this is you then you have come to the right spot. Hi, my name is Grace and on March 26th of 2025 I had spinal fusion surgery. Okay, now I know there was a lot of other stuff lateral this lateral that. but essentially it was a spinal fusion surgery involving my entire back. My goal today is to tell you, why I chose to have this surgery and about my first few days following the surgery. I will also continue the blog with some kind of a time summary for you to follow. I was at a point where my back was hurting so badly on a daily basis. I would push through the pain as much as I could each day but by the time dinner was put out and I sat down I wanted to do nothing else. My back was done for the day and my body was done as well. You see I also have fibromyalgia. I had been mentioning to my doctor for several years now about my back pain and after taking care of some other major needs we finally got around to my back. We first tried a pain specialist and this did nothing for me. Then we tried a spine doctor who was not able to help either. I ended up at a scoliosis surgeon. Now, a little background I had grown up going to a chiropractor my whole life until the last few years when it just didn't fit into the budget as well. I was also a gymnast not a particularly known gemnast. just I did gymnastics for about 10 years from age 11 to 21 and then I also coached gymnastics around the Phoenix area from the time I was 15 until well 20 to 25 years (somewhere in there) later. Although doing the gymnastics and coaching helped keep my back limber it also took its toll on my back. So now we reach the day when I go to the the scoliosis doctor and I get the verdict that injections or pain meds aren't going to help my back, the only thing that is going to help my back is the surgery. I knew right away. that's what I needed to do. God gave me a piece and I knew that he was going to see me through it. What I didn't know was when they mentioned pain what that pain was going to look like or feel like. And yes when they say it is a very painful surgery it is. I have never had the opportunity have my own children but I am told that once the mother holds her baby the pain of labor is forgotten. Similarly, God has thankfully blocked from my mind those first few days after the surgery. I am told that I just was in so much pain that I was constantly crying out in pain. Now, don't let me scare you please. if you are in a place in your life that the pain outways your ability to have a productive life and is something you need to do. please don't hesitate. I'm only 2 weeks out of my surgery. I know that going forward I will have the ability to have a better life, a better ability to do life. So then it was the preparation and the surgery. I am the caregiver for my dad. So first I had to make sure that I had some someone in place to help be with him and make sure he was taken care of while I was not able to do it. Then I started getting the house ready as it was a family member and they were going to move in for a couple of months with us. I did what I could to get the house as ready as possible. they moved in and a week and a half later came the day of my surgery. I went into this like I have gone into anything else. let's get it done so I can move forward. I went in with a great attitude and ready for the surgery I was trying to keep this good attitude throughout the process. Well let me tell you that did happen. I know I lost a few days because of the pain, (as mentioned earlier). As my body came out of the intense pain I felt as though someone had taken River rock and just plastered at will all over my back. I also realized as I started moving my body and that, that my body was very swollen. I literally felt like the Michelin Man. I felt like the skeleton of my body was normal but the rest of my body especially in my hips and lower abdominal area was ballooned out 6 inches or more from what it normally would be and this kind of surprised me. Nobody had told me about this but okay. well I got to work that out. Somehow I started making progress in the hospital and then a setback with constipation and tons of gas in my body. In closing, I will say just be prepared for the unexpected. your experience may not be exactly like mine.