Scoliosis

Two weeks ago, the nurses visited my daughter's school and she came home with a letter stating they suspect she has Scoliosis. Hearing such a big name, I started to panic and wondered what the hell kind of health issue that is. So I read on and realized it had something to do with the spine. It wasn't until after dinner that I managed to clear up everything and get online to do more studying on this.

So apparently what I read was that Scoliosis is a back condition that causes the spine to curve to the left or right side. Most cases, it develops in children between the ages of 9 and 14 during the growth spurt of puberty. Scoliosis is usually mild and needs no treatment. For more severe cases, treatments include a back brace and surgery to straighten the spine.

And of course, me being me, I worried about the "what if her case was severe"?

So this kept me worried for weeks and finally, we took the day off today to take her for the follow up appointment at the Health Promotion Board building. She got an x-ray done and we saw the doctor who explained everything to us. Thankfully, her spine is only 9 degrees bent so it's not severe and as the doctor said, there is nothing to worry about. It may or may not get worse but usually it doesn't. But just having those options, I am going to worry for years now!!

What we learned today is that Scoliosis is hereditary in that people with scoliosis are more likely to have children with scoliosis. What we also learned is that it is not caused by the heavy school bag or the kind of mattress my daughter is using or even her posture. WOW! All this while I thought those were all part of the problem. I guess we learn something every day.

So anyway, thankfully it wasn't severe and thankfully Lani didn't need the brace. I was really worried that she might have needed it. I couldn't imagine my baby girl having to wear that for whatever period of time. But she will still have to go back for follow ups twice a year until she is 17 years old or when she stops growing.

Now we're still trying to figure out of anyone in our family had this but we can't come up with any names until my mum mentioned my cousin.... ok, now I can understand...

But a mother's worries never ends. This is only the beginning...