More things that helped me make up my mind.

Well apart from all my friends urging do it do it (- actually none of them did this and life would have been a lot easier if they had - At least I would have had someone to blame! ) My friends (at least those who are 'in the know') are mostly surprised at the severity of my curves as I have hidden them so well for so long - aha(!) who knows what other dark secrets I hide from them! I think most of them think its a good idea but no-one wants to own up to it just in case I blame them later - look at me - do I look like someone who apportions blame all around me?? Do I?

The things that helped me the most were firstly the forums – lots of people who have had the op 1 month ago, 1 year ago or 20 years ago. Lots of friendly people with helpful stories – all ready to answer any questions you have however dumb they are. Information is the key to it all for me and the only way that I could ever feel comfortable with the decision I was making. The next thing, is a book by David K. Wolpert. This book is called Scoliosis Surgery – the Definitive Patient’s Reference. This is available as an e-book – you just pay for it and then download it from http://www.curvedspine.com/author.htm. I printed it out and read it cover to cover – it covers the basics of scoliosis itself, understanding spinal fusion, alternatives to surgery, preparing and planning for surgery, what happens in hospital and the recovery process. It is just stuffed full of good information (although I can’t comment on the hospital/ recovery bit – yet!). If you are in the USA you can actually buy it as a proper book too – either from http://www.scoliosis.org/ (NSF) or even from Amazon. Finally, and I guess this has made a huge difference to me – are the other people that have blogs too. They are all a huge source of inspiration to me. They’ve been tinged with horror too – all that talk of pain and all, but still just all the things I want to know. Thanks (in order of those who were first to get sliced and diced) - Kat, Monie and Spinewhine!