The recent past

Bouncing it around
As I said, I've been worried about what to do for a while now.

Matt has been my sounding board, listening to everything and helping me decide whether I should go see a doctor and what I will do if I need surgery. Typically I mention things to him like what he will do if I end up taller than him, will he take care of me while I'm resting--typical girlfriend what ifs.

Monica has equally helped me with this, always giving me the sound advice that I should not worry about the what ifs because I can't do anything about them. She also has a curve of her own. Although I don't know the severity of it, it's been nice to talk to someone else my age who understands. She also has gave me this wonderful little tidbit which I am taking to heart, true or not--she said that women with scoliosis carry additional weight in their stomachs and can get kind of lumpy around there. Ha! That explains so much, or at least I'm going to let it explain it for me. So that is at least something to look forward to after surgery--stretching out my tummy. Watch out, Giselle.

I'd also been dropping little mentions about my back in front of my parents, too. This has been more subtle as I didn't want to worry them and I really didn't want to face any questions they might throw at me. It seemed to make it more real than I wanted.

So I would ask my mom a question here ("how long were you on bedrest after your sugery?") or say something in front of my dad ("I may need to see a chiropractor about popping my back"), but the moment they go too deep into the questions, I backed off.

Then, one night I went to Don & Courtney's for dinner and, with the help of some red wine, started spilling the beans about my back. I remember them both, especially Don, saying that the sooner I figured out what I needed to do the better. His theory was that if I had to have surgery, it would be way better to go through it young than old when I may not be as strong and healthy as I am now. I of course already knew that, but for some reason, it just really opened my eyes to hear him say it.