Incision Pix

I have a funny little story to share about the incision pix.  Last week while at Dad's, I glanced down and saw some before/after photos of me on a table.  It caught me off guard because I didn't recognize the photos so I asked Dad about them.  He said Mom wanted to show them to some of her friends.  Yesterday, I asked Jeremy to send me all the postop pix he had of me because I'm ready to look at them.  I haven't seen many of the photos because I wasn't comfortable looking at them, until now.  Jeremy show me the photos but I did not see the set that Dad had at his house.  After speaking with Dad today, he said I received a letter from Dr. Lenke's office while he and Mom were here in December which contained the photos.  After digging through a file cabinet today, I found the letter.  Dad mentioned that when I received it, I told Jeremy to put it away and that I didn't want to look at it.

While I am a bit apprehensive about exposing my body to the world, I hope that those who are contemplating surgery may find hope/strength/inspiration in seeing what is possible with surgery.  I, myself, was very grateful to see before/after pix of scoli patients.  Here is the first batch:

The photo above is from Dr. Lenke's office showing 6 days preop and 9 days postop.  I was still swollen but the changes are obvious including my rib hump (side shot photos) disappearing.  I now have 36 screws, 2 rods, 2 cages and a couple of bolts comprised of a combination of cobalt chrome and titanium.  I regained the 4 inches of height that I lost last year so I'm back to 5'10".

 

The above photo is 12 weeks post.  Notice how my left hip sticks out now?  Dr. Lenke will look at this when I see him in May.


I have more photos to post.

Warmly,
Doreen