Testimonial from Katie
Hi my name is Katie and it’s been 6 month’s since I had my back surgery. It was just 2 years ago when I was diagnosed with Scoliosis. I had never heard the word before and just the sound of it was frightening. I was told I needed to sleep in a back brace every night. As a competitive traveling ice hockey player, my parents tried to make me a little more comfortable by suggesting I think of the brace like another piece of hockey equipment. I was just going to have to deal with it and I did. In the end, the brace didn’t help as my thoracic curve continued to get worse. Eventually, I reached a point where my curve was 48 degrees and the reality of surgery became more real.
More X-rays were taken and it was a done deal. I needed the operation! No matter what people told me, I was feeling scared at that moment. The first thing that came to my mind was would it hurt and would I ever be able to play ice hockey again? It’s my favorite sport that I had been playing since I was 6 years old and I didn’t want to stop playing at the age of 14. It is so much of who I am. Two State Championships, traveling and competing at the highest levels, summer camps and off-ice training and my pure love of the sport were all at risk.
The anticipation for the big day to come was very nerve-racking. I just wanted to get it over with. When it did finally come, I closed my eyes and waited for it to be over. I went to pre-op and then to surgery. They gave me the IV and I was out for 4 hours. When I finally woke up in the intensive care unit with my parents waiting for me, I was so happy to have finished the operation. I was told Dr. Lonner did an excellent job in the operation and it was OVER!
I had 6 really tough, long days at NYU hospital. I felt a lot of pain in my muscles and had a hard time sitting up. Lucky the nurses at the hospital were great, and helped me with everything; making sure I was as comfortable as I could be in that situation. I had to walk every now and again up the hallway getting a few painful steps further each time. I was finally discharged on the sixth day and sent to my home sweet home!
It took a while to finally get out of bed, eat; walk and shower by myself, but eventually that day arrived. I was not allowed to bend twist or lift. No BLT as Dr. Lonner said! Generally the 6 weeks of help at home, no school, visitors, presents and tutoring went by pretty quickly. Soon enough it was time for my 3-month post operation X-ray.
When I got into the room with Dr. Lonner he told me very casually, “Bend over.” So I answered, “I can bend?” For the first time in 3 months, I could almost touch my toes again! Then my Dad asked Dr. Lonner if I could play hockey again. He said you could start to skate now, but go easy for a while. That news was so overwhelming to me! I was able to skate again, touch my toes, lift heavy things, ride bikes, dance and twist all over the place! Dr. Lonner had done such a good job that he even told me that in 4 to 6 weeks I could start to play ice hockey again! It’s going to take me a lot of work to get back to where I was last season, but I’ve come such a long way already! Last Saturday, I scored my first goal since my surgery and I feel great!
- Katie, 14 years old
Before
After
