Teni's Story

The Diagnosis

I was first diagnosed with scoliosis when I was around 10 or 11 years old. Before my diagnosis my uncle would always complain that I was walking bent and that I should stand straight but I didn’t know what he meant as to me I was standing straight. One of the parents of the girls in my year group would say that I walked like a pregnant woman but I just thought she was being a hater. And I actually found out my diagnosis accidentally as I went to the hospital because of a muscle trap pain in my chest and they did an X-ray for me to see what was going on. Nothing wrong with my chest but they discovered scoliosis instead.

I stopped P.E after that as my parents didn’t want anything to make it worse. We didn’t really know what scoliosis was and mine was classed as junior idiopathic as no one in my family has ever had it so we have no idea how it got there or what exactly would make it worse. The wait list was long so the doctor at first recommended a brace for me but changed his mind because my curvature was too much so it wouldn’t make a difference.

Surgery

I had my surgery when I was 13 years old at Evelina in Westminster and I was very excited about it, the opportunity to gain two inches was the selling point for me as I wanted to be taller lol. And leading up to my surgery time I wasn’t nervous at all, until I got to the theatre and it was time to go to sleep. I remember the room was very cold and I was with my dad, as I was laying down about to go into the surgery I asked my dad what my post-op present would be as I normally received presents for being brave in operations that I had. He promised me a dog as I had been asking for one for years and that was able to help me relax and I closed my eyes.

I lost a lot of blood during the surgery, I heard it had to be recycled through a machine and put back into me. The surgeon told my dad that he was going to write a paper on how scoliosis surgery affects ethnic people differently based off my case due to how tricky the surgery was. It was originally meant to take 6 hours and I think it ended up taking 8 in total. I woke up looking like someone had beaten me up as my eyes were all swollen and my lips were dry. I was told to eat a lot of beef and spinach when I was discharged to get more iron due to the blood loss and for some reason that translated to have loads of McDonalds so I definitely took advantage of that 😂.

The Recovery

The recovery process itself was very tricky. I practically had to learn to walk all over again which was a lot of work, I didn’t eat much during my stay but a nurse was nice enough to give me some peaches that she had brought in for her lunch. My operation was in December so there were a lot of people coming in and giving us presents; I got to meet the Gillingham football team who gave me a team shirt that I still have, a Santa Claus came but since I was a teenager I didn’t buy that😂 and a few others came in and out.

I was discharged after about a week and a half or two weeks, they took me home in a private ambulance which was really cool. Luckily I was able to spend Christmas day at my house rather than in the hospital. It took a lot of adjusting to my new life as I couldn’t sleep in certain ways and couldn’t be upright for too long. And I didn’t go to school for months either so I was emailed work to do and I did them at home so I wasn’t too behind.

Physical therapy

I then started physical therapy after a few months which I didn’t really enjoy and I kept forgetting to do the exercises at home. But I loved hydrotherapy and getting to swim around. I eventually went back to school but stayed in what they called the progress centre which was for those with injuries and they couldn’t really get around. It got boring after a while being in one room day in and day out, the only exciting thing for me was not being able to do PE because I hated it.

Luckily there was no difficulty with my recovery and it has been 10 years now since my surgery, I bought some cakes for myself last year to celebrate the milestone. I always make sure to acknowledge the anniversary as it was a big thing that I went through, I even reference it in interviews when I get asked about a time where I showed resilience because I personally think that’s about as resilient as I am going to get.

Life after surgery

My life is pretty much back to normal now, my flexibility has reduced, don’t ask me to touch my toes as I will not get very far 😭. I had to give up my love for hip hop as the fluidity wasn’t the same so I looked quite stiff doing it. I can’t stand for extended periods of time so I wouldn’t dream of getting standing tickets in a concert and my posture is very straight when I sit but for the most part I’m completely ordinary. The scar is still present on my back but I think overall scoliosis made my life more unique so I never feel down about the fact that I had it. I still use it now as an excuse when I don’t want to do something like go on rollercoasters, it’s perfectly fine for me to do so but people don’t have to know that😂.