Time is Moving So Fast!!!

I can't believe that in about a month I will have my next appointment at Mayo!  Last time I checked I thought I still had a couple months!  Not that I'm complaining.  I would rather have all this done with and move on as quickly and swiftly as possible.  I'm surprisingly still not nervous about having surgery at all.  I am a little anxious to find out if and how much my scoliosis has progressed over the past year.  Back pain has become such a daily issue that my heating pad is on on a nightly basis.  

I've honestly been so busy with school lately that I've forgotten how fast this appointment is creeping up on me!  I'm thankful for the distraction though, even if school itself is pretty hectic right now.  Once this school year is over I'll only have one day of summer and the day after that will be spent in Rochester getting x-rays and consulting with my surgeon.  I suppose it still seems so surreal that I would need surgery that it just hasn't sunk in yet.  I've always been the healthy one of the family.  I've never broken any bones or anything like that.  

As much as I would like to say this surgery is not a big deal, it's a huge deal.  I can't even imagine myself straight as a rod (literally), and not able to bend my back like I can right now.  One of my biggest worries is that surgery will limit things I like to do right now like yoga.  My worst curve is in my lower back so I should still have flexibility in my upper back.  I'm sure once everything is done it will be nothing like I imagined it.  That's usually how it goes.

I would like to thank everyone for the support I've gotten through this blog and through emails!! It's great learning about others who are going through the same exact thing I am.  Your support means the world to me!!   

Is There Really No Simple Solution?

I usually don't have much back pain.  If I do, I've found ways to manage it very easily.  Lately, this proves to be a very different story.  Last week I was having some pain in the middle of my back so I decided to do some yoga.  Thinking I hadn't exercised for a while and my body was just telling me I needed to stretch, I did yoga for about an hour.  It felt great to stretch out my back muscles!  Unfortunately, when I woke up the next morning I was in a decent amount of pain.  I used to just have pain in my lower back but now it's spread to my mid back and neck also.  

Usually when this would happen I would heat up the gel compress but that doesn't do much for me anymore.  I've also bought a big body pillow so I can have it against my back when I sleep.  Although this wondrous pillow has made sleeping much more comfortable it hasn't done tons for the pain.  Taking Ibuprofen is starting to become part of my daily routine.  I haven't taken any in the past couple days though because it really doesn't help much.  It might eliminate any pain I have for an hour or two but then it's back.


My mom has said that she could take me to the doctor but we both know that would be extremely pointless unless there's something else causing my pain (other than scoliosis).  I have an appointment with my specialist/surgeon at the end of May and we can't get in any sooner than that.  If my pain continues like this or gets worse I might consider seeing a doctor to see if something else is the cause.  Life is way too short to spend hours having back pain, or any type of pain or illness for that matter.  I'm so thankful for the advancement of medical technology and the wonderful doctors, nurses, surgeons, etc. that God has blessed us with!  I'm just as thankful that in as soon as 2 to 3 months I will have a straighter spine, less pain, and I will be able to put this behind me!