Today's appointment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester went very well! They were actually ahead of schedule with both x-rays and appointment with the doctor so we were out of there before 2:20, which is when my appointment with Dr. MacIntosh was supposed to start!
The news is, my degrees haven't changed any in the past 7 months, which is good! But unfortunately, I will still be having surgery. To make this clear, I will have surgery now by choice, but there are reasons why I'm going to have it now, even though it's optional. Dr. MacIntosh told me that my curves would continue to slowly increase for the rest of my life, by approximately 1/2 a degree each year. That means in 20 years both my thoracic curve and lumbar curve would increase greatly, making surgery necessary then. 20 years from now, yes the medical technology might be more advanced, it might also not be. What is guaranteed is that recovery will be a hell of a lot easier now, since I am young and healthy. Yes, if I get surgery now I might need another in the far future, but I'm much better off doing the major surgery now at 17 rather than in my 40's.
We were going to make the appointment for surgery today, but after talking with the doctor and asking all our questions my parents and I both were a little overwhelmed with all the information so we will call on Monday or sometime next week to set up the surgery. Unfortunately, Dr. MacIntosh only has two openings in June left. Those would be the 16th and the 30th. It would be my preference to have it done on the 16th but we will just have to see how everything plays out. She said she's open almost all of July and August, I definitely want mine done in June though!
One thing I really like about Dr. MacIntosh is that if she schedules a surgery for one day, she will devote that entire day to that surgery and no other appointments, which would explain the wait for surgery and to get appointments with her! She is truly the most amazing doctor I've ever met! She never rushes appointments, she sits with you answering as many questions as you might have, she'll personally go get you information pamphlets, or in my case today and model of the spine with rods and screws in it, like what they use in the actual surgery!!
I'm very nervous thinking about how real all this is now!! Surgery in three weeks isn't that long and I'm sure the time will fly! Just standing there getting x-rays today I started shaking like a leaf and couldn't control myself. My nerves just took over!! It makes me worry I'll be a complete mess when the actual surgery comes! I'm ready to call Dr. MacIntosh's assistant now and set up that surgery so at least we get the date I want! I'll just have to wait until Monday though! Keeping my fingers crossed for the 16th to still be open when we call! Until then! Keep your fingers crossed for me!
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