It has been a long time!! A lot has happened since the last time I have last posted. I will start out by saying that Bradley and I could use some prayer. For some that may not know, I have Scoliosis, it is where you spine curves. Bradley and I have talked a lot about trying to have a baby in the next few months or so, that was until, I decided to just ask my general Dr. about carrying a baby. I will spare the details on how crooked I am (ribs poking out, shoulder higher than the other, can't breathe, and in pain a lot...lol) Anyways, I asked the general dr. and he said as far as delivering a baby he thought it would be fine but carrying would not be very good...I have no room on my left side. So he referred us to a Dr in Plano, TX at the Texas Back Institute. Bradley and I went last Monday and got some bad news. Though this is not a life threatening thing I was told I needed surgery. Deep down I knew he was going to tell me this but I keep telling myself to calm down and to not get worked up about something I wasn't even sure about. The minute he told me I needed surgery I immediately started crying. Thank goodness Bradley was there cause he wanted to know all about the surgery and what was going to happen to me. I was so emotional and only concerned about having a baby that I didn't even care what all he was telling me he was going to do to me. He said that my curve is in the middle of my back and that on top of it being curved it is also twisting forward causing my left side of my chest/ribs/hips to protrude or push forward. To actually see your spine and to see where your curve is is amazing. I have always thought it was down bottom cause that's where it hurts the most. To be honest it hurts all the time. The doctor thought this was funny he said that my bottom part of my back is having to compensate for the top part and that the bottom part is pretty much what is holding everything up. I told the doctor I feel like those flexi straw, you know the ones you can bend anyway and then push them back down to be a straight straw. I feel like I could be pulled from both ends and then be straight, this is what the dr. thought was so funny. He said he has never heard it put like that b/4 and then said he is going to have to use that analogy for other people. I thought that was kinda fun. Back to my story.........
The scary part is, is that he wants to do the surgery anterior as opposed to posterior. This means he wants to go in through my side. Just a little tid bit of info, my sister also had this same thing and she had surgery posterior. She has the long scar going all the way down her spine and then had a small bone taken out of her hip and grafted into her spine. She also has rods in her back that were fused to her spine. Well here is the scary part or atleast it is to me, in order to do the anterior surgery my lung has to be deflated and a rib or two will have to be removed and then put into my spine, then I will have rods fused to my spine also. I have done a lot of research and in some cases I also read that some peoples diaphram's have to be detached. Now I don't know about you guys but this all doesn't sound so fun. It is a 5 hour surgery and I will be in the hospital for 3-5 days, which doesn't sounds like alot when you just had metal rods fused to your spine. SO you can imagine how Bradley and I need your prayers. I have set the surgery date for June 16th. Just to be sure we set up a second opinion with a Dr. in Shreveport. We just want to compare what each Dr. says. I set the date b/c we know I need surgery and the recovery will take awhile, so this isn't something I can wait on.
If any of you know me, you know I am dying to have kids like right now. The sadest part was the Dr. telling me to not have kids until after I have the surgery. Bradley and I talked it over and thought we would just have one and then next summer have the surgery. This would put a baby around 1-3 months old and we just couldnt do that, anyways the dr. said this was not a good idea and that I would be in even more pain than I am in now. So he told me we needed to wait atleast a year after surgery to get pregnant and then looking at another year of pregnancy and trying. So you all can see my heartache of having to wait almost 2 years to have a baby.
Bradley and I have been going back and forth with what dr to use, where to have it done at, when to have it, whether anterior surgery is better than posterior and so forth. But you know one thing is for sure GOD IS GOOD!!! He has taken care of us in so many ways. He has continued to show us HIS mercy and grace and He is continually opening up new doors/avenues. GOD works in neat ways. I could go on and on about how wonderful He is and I could tell you all about how He is showing us which dr. to use, where to have it done at, financials with all of this, and giving me contact after contact of people who have been to this facility. All I can say is I am in the best Physician's hands!!!!
I know I talked alot about this surgery, but this is what we have been dealing with for the past 2 weeks. Bradley and his dad have done amazing things around our house. Our house has done a 180 in the way it looks. I tell you our Sunday School class is coming over Sun. night and it has motivated the men to get out there and spiffy everything up. I will have to post a picture of the house and all the changes later on. I thought I would leave you with a picture of my curved spine. LOL I dont think it looks that bad but everyone else thinks the opposite.
