Monday, 8 October 2012

Inspirational Scoliosis Quotes


When I was recovering from surgery, reading inspirational quotes helped me to stay positive.

Here are a collection of some of my favourites that I think relate well to scoliosis, scoliosis surgery and recovery:


Recovery / Strength

You can't see the view if you don't climb the mountain.

You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have.

Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength. Napoleon Bonaparte

Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.

Life consists not in holding good cards, but in playing those cards you hold well

Where there is no struggle, there is no strength - Oprah Winfrey

No matter how hard things may seem, don't get down, and don't give up. The clouds will clear, and there are brighter days ahead.

It doesn't matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up - Vince Lombardi

The way I see it, if you want a rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain - Dolly Parton

Don't confuse your path with your destination. Just because it's stormy now, doesn't mean you aren't headed for sunshine - Unknown.

Everything will be ok in the end. If it's not ok, it's not the end.

Pain

Behind every beautiful thing, there's some kind of pain. Bob Dylan

In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths. Drew Barrymore 

Pain is weakness leaving the body. Tera Lynn Childs 

We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. Kenji Miyazawa 

Pretending to be happy when you're in pain is just an example of how strong you are as a person 

The pain of yesterday is the strength of today

Scars

Scars show us where we have been, they do not dictate where we are going. David Rossi

Never be ashamed of a scar. It simply means you were stronger than whatever tried to hurt you. 


Please feel free to comment and add your own! :)

Louise x


Monday, 1 October 2012

2 year post op checkup

Today I had my 2 year post op checkup. 

After scoliosis surgery you generally get seen for a checkup after 3 months, after 6 months, after 1 year and after 2 years, so this was my final post surgery checkup (hooray!) 

Like last year, it was very weird going back to the hospital I had my surgery at, it's easy to forget what you went through sometimes but going back there again and walking past the ward I was on kind of brought it all back. 

Luckily, I managed to see my surgeon for this appointment (not a registrar) which was good news. He checked my xrays and said all the metalwork looks as though it's in the right place and he thinks it's fused now which is great news. 

I told him that I'm doing alot of activities post op such as going to the gym regularly, aeorbics, zumba etc and that I was worried I was doing too much. His answer was no I won't be doing too much and that I can do anything I want to do now which is good to hear, sometimes you just need a little reassurance. 
 
What made me laugh though today was the guys who did my xrays were fascinated by them, their eyes almost popped out of their sockets when they saw them and they kept asking me loads of questions about my spine and calling me the bionic lady! Surely they've seen other scoliosis post op xrays before...I do like people's reactions to them though and straight after the guy who did the xrays had seen them he was offering to carry everything for me, like I couldn't lift a basket with my clothes in...Funny how people treat you differently after they've seen the xrays!

Anyway it was a good appointment overall and he said I dont have to go back again now or have any further xrays (woohoooo!) unless I have any issues. 

This is kind of a big thing for me, considering I have been having checkups on my back and xrays every year since I was 14. I've had more than enough xrays to last a lifetime. It's a bit weird to think I'll never have to go for another checkup or wear one of those fetching hospital gowns for my yearly xray again (fingers crossed).