my experience with kyphosis and scoliosis

Hello I’m from new Zealand and at the beginning of this year I had a major operation to straighten out my spine. I thought any one would like to hear from my experiences so feel free to ask me any questions.


When I was 14 I was diagnosed with kyphosis scoliosis (which is a hunch in my back). So my doctor preferred I will need to see dr john Ferguson. And john said that I would need an operation to straighten out my back. When I first heard that I will need an operation I didn’t want to do it at all. But my dad insisted that I need the operation. I was quite scared of this. My physiotherapist gave me a programme of exercises to do in order to prepare for the operation. This included press ups, bridge holds, using a Swiss ball and playing basketball. My dad was also telling me to keep my back straight whether it was sitting or standing. I didn’t want my back straight because I thought that the back operation would sort it out. But I had to do this operation. So Tina who was John’s personal assistant was booking my appointments but john was too busy and my operation was being put forward all the time. Because he had children who were ways worse than I was and there were babies that had bad kyphosis. So on the 11th of January 2010 my mum and dad and I drove down to Auckland starship hospital. There I met my anethesist and went to ward 24a which was where I was staying the 10 hellish days in hospital. On that night John came into my room and explained what he will be doing to my back. This included putting two titanium rods and 26 titanium screws into my spine. Tina told me to get up at 6:30 in the morning to wash my hair and put an anti-bacterial gel on my back. This was to get rid of any germs off my back before the operation. Then at 8:00 a theatre nurse came in and took me down to the pre op rooms. This was where I was checked out for any metal filling in my mouth. My mum was crying because she was so concerned about my operation. I was then taken into the theatre room where I was going to be operated on. So I was given the general anaesthetic and was knocked out for the 6 hour operation. The next thing that I could remember was hearing voices in the background. I was in the post op room this was where I could recover and my mum and dad were in there and I vaguely remember saying I want food I’m so hungry. But I was so tired I couldn’t eat anything. So I was taken up to my room