Day 6

-Back Story Back Story: Part Two-

If this story were a musical, this would be Act II. Act one was just setting up the more interesting part of the story. Well, in my opinion, this part is definitely more interesting, probably because I can remember most of it. So, I'll start sort of where I left off. Lets see... June of 2010...

School was over. I was so excited, ready to begin the rest of my life. 8th grade was pretty bad. I had lost some great friends; Some were just jerks, and some were begging not to go. High school was going to be a fresh start. Until I started having back pains again... Five years... Five years since this has been an issue. For five years, I thought I was back to being a normal kid. For five years, I was led to believe that I wouldn't have to worry about my back any more. For five years, once a year, I was told that I was fine and that I was going to grow without any other issues. Wrong. For five years, my problems progressed. For five years, a condition that could have been found sooner is I had just opened by big mouth, could have been solved. I've never really told anyone this, but since this blog is a glass door, I'll let the world know now. Ever since I told my parents about how my back hurt when I was nine, and I had to get the MRI that eventually let to surgery, (Read day 5. Back Story Back Story: Part 1) I have been absolutely horrified of telling people how I feel. I guess I figure that if I don't tell anyone how bad it is, it will eventually go away and I won't have to go to a doctor or anything. So if I start complaining how bad my back hurts or anything, you know it hurts. At the end of eighth grade, when I started to have all the back pain, I figured it was always there but I just never noticed it. I never actually told anyone about it until school was out. I told my mom on the last day of school that my back hurt, and she just figured the same thing as me, but she didn't know how bad it actually hurt. The week after school ended, I was a counselor at a Girl Scout day camp. That week, the pain got very bad. I was outside in the sun, standing, running around, and had kids hanging off me all through the day. I told my mom after the first day, and she was worried. Honestly though, I think I was more worried than her. I took it pretty easy for the rest of the week and went to our local urgent care that Thursday.

Since they were just an urgent care, they couldn't really do much more than take x-rays. We would have gone to see our regular doctor, but the next week, I was supposed to drive up to Maryland for a week long backpacking trip on the AT. I've been in a situation where I had to leave a backpacking trip once, but that's another story. Anyway, they took the x-rays and told me that I had 50 degree scoliosis. We had no idea what that meant. So I got sent to Duke, and got an MRI to make sure that it wasn't anything nerve/ spinal cord/ brain related. Mom and Uncle Mike, you can back me up on this one, that was probably the scariest thing I had done in my life. I had heard that some of the MRI machines at Duke played iPods and CD's, so I came prepared. Lucky me, I got the only one that didn't. Not only that, but they surprised me with an IV. The IV was bad, but inside the actual machine, it looked like Wolverine had a tantrum inside. It seriously looked like there were claw marks on the inside plastic. It also looked like a middle school locker room- there were a bunch of Sharpie marks inside. Worst two hours of my life. I would have much rather go on a roller coaster- which I am deathly afraid of- than repeat that night. 

So nope, no nerve stuff. Thanks, could have told you that. So, I went to go see a surgeon that my friend who just had the same surgery recommended me to. He was awesome! Other than the fact that that was where I found out about my kyphosis, it was a good visit. In a nutshell, my scoliosis wasn't bad. It was only at about 20 degrees. The kyphosis, however, was bad. He said that the only was to fix it was surgery, and he usually tried to stay away from that. He was actually our second opinion that we went to see first. Since his clinic and everything wasn't covered on our insurance, we went to see the pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Duke. He also said that I would have to get surgery, but he said it in a not-as-nice way. So by then it was August. I had already missed a lot of things I was going to do over the Summer, and I was determined to not miss any more. Too bad! I missed two and a half weeks of school.

I just realized how much I've written and that it's 9:30. I should be going to bed- I have another two exams tomorrow. By the way, I felt really good about my history exam today, and I got a 97 on my computer apps. exam! 

Back Story Back Story: Part Three will be out tomorrow. It will continue the time leading up to the surgery and the surgery itself. PEACE!!