Wednesday, July 27, 2011

The Edge of Glory



Lea

Lea

Lea

Lea

Lea

Lea



Hello wonderful people. My reason for leaving for three months is not the typical one like 'I felt uninspired' or 'the weather was awful'...in fact this time I had something more serious to handle...a back surgery. My yoga teacher found I had a curved back (a.k.a scoliosis) about four years ago and since then I was part of an emotional journey. Every year the curve increased and by the time I actually got to see my orthopedic surgeon I had reached 50 degrees. I had to get a surgery. In fact I ended up getting two. I had 96 degrees of deviation when they finaly corrected it. On the first surgery they did three incisions to take three discs from my spine out. This was to make my spine more flexible for when the titanium rods when in on the second surgery. It was about four hours long. Then the second surgery was to put the rods as I mentioned, which lasted almost ten hours long. I wasn't as scared as I thought I would be. This was the end to all those years hiding my spine with long hair, flowy clothes and jackets (including in warm weather)! I had low confidence and was constantly thinking if people could notice my scoliosis. The truth is almost nobody noticed it. Also, fashion helped me a lot. Since I started focusing on what I was wearing two years ago, I started noticing what clothes could work best for the type of body shape I was dealing with back then. I wanted to distract people from the defects I had and instead make them notice the cool printed shirt or the unique vintage chain. Oh and the surgery... well it was the best decision I had ever done in my life. I am in my second month of recovery and I feel as my life has changed completely, and it did in so many possible ways! I feel so proud of myself, and I couldn't have been able to say that two months ago. The scar on the back and the three weirdly shaped lines were they did the three incisions under my arm is the evidence that I have fought for what I truly wanted, and now I have it. Special thanks to Roz, who had answered a lot of my questions about the surgery since she had hers back in October!
Now I can't wait to start blogging again!

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5 comments:

Angela Jessyana said...

you look gorgeous, i love the photos. and don't be shy! i hope you get well soon, and keep blogging dear cos your blog is really nice! :)

Laarni Martin said...

You should always have confidence in you even if a lot comes in your way. I too have a mild scoliosis that was diagnosed about almost 4 years ago too and it never stopped me from doing what I will :) I love your blog and I'm so happy you're back! :D

Rosalind said...

So glad to hear that you are now in recovery. Your operation sounded a little different to mine (I didn't have any discs taken out beforehand), but I'm sure that you were in the same amount of pain in the first post-op week. My surgery took four and a half hours, and the degree of curvature was reduced from eighty degrees to twenty-two.
I remember covering my twisted torso with my hair too, as well as with loose silk shirts. I was so extatic when I found I could wear body-hugging clothes again! It was a great boost to my previously battered self-esteem.
Looking forward to reading more posts of yours. Congratulations, once again!

Jacki said...

so glad you're alright now!

Unknown said...

u look so beautiful!!! got the link of ur blog from ur brother's blog! i wish u will get better and blog more!