My name is Miranda and I'm 17 years old now. I was diagnosed when I was about eight or nine, and in order to keep me out of a brace, my parents immediately started sending me to a chiropractor. It didn't work, unfortunately, but it did help with muscle cramping. So I was put in a brace, which I wasn't happy about, but I dealt with it. The problem was that it didn't do much. My curves kept getting worse and worse, until when I was 13, I finally had surgery. It was scary. I didn't know what to expect. It was less fun than I had anticipated. I was in serious pain and the nurses messed up with my medications multiple times. But when I talked to other people who had had the surgery, they hadn't had such a bad time. Sure, it had been difficult, it is major surgery, but after a few weeks of PT they were up and about like normal. I was in bed for 6 weeks, and even after that I was on half days at school because I couldn't be up for a full day. That was until about 3 months after surgery when I finally went back to full days. But my cousin had gone back to school within a few weeks and was playing basketball in 6 months, which was far more than I could possibly have done. I felt like such a wimp and it just made me feel awful about myself. But then my mom realized something: because of how my curve was, my surgeon had broken 6 of my ribs in order to get my spine to move more. Anyone who has ever broken a rib can testify to how painful it is, and I had 6, which is why it hurt so much, and why I couldn't do much. Looking back, I'm impressed with how well I did, given that as soon as I went back to school I continued playing the clarinet in my school band. Clarinetists, or any wind instrumentalists, know that playing takes a lot of air. Now that I know that (and am fully healed and no longer have any pain :-) I am proud of how much I grew from a difficult experience and how well I stuck with everything. I just want everyone to know-- if you had surgery and feel like you had a harder time than anyone else, check it out. You probably had a more complicated surgery. And you should never feel like a wimp. Scoliosis surgery is major surgery, and not only does it hurt, but you have to relearn how to sit, stand, and walk afterwards. Cheers to everyone who has made it through, and to those who are worried about it, you'll grow from it. I promise. Just don't give up. It's a long road. But you'll make it.

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