Emily had scoliosis surgery with us six years ago, back in 2008 when she was 12 years old. She had a 47 degree thoracolumbar curve and had a T5-L3 instrumentation and fusion with thoracic and lumbar pedicle screw instrumentation. This month, Emily will be graduating from high school, and we are flattered that she chose to include the Hey Clinic with her senior project.
Emily held a fundraiser where her Bluegrass band performed to raise money for adolescent scoliosis patients at the Hey Clinic and the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS). She put together beautiful gift baskets for several of our adolescent scoliosis surgeries this summer. It could not have come at a better time, as we are always very busy over the summer months taking care of many of our younger scoliosis patients who have just finished the school year.
Emily performing during her fundraiser with her Bluegrass band.
Emily filled the baskets with cross word puzzles, magazines, scar cream, stuffed animals, journals, and more! In addition, she also made a substantial donation to SRS to help fund scoliosis research. After collecting over $1000, Emily used $500 for the pediatric scoliosis baskets and donated $500 to Scoliosis Research Society (SRS)!It is incredible to know that even after six years and after having surgery at such a young age, Emily still comes back to the Hey Clinic to visit. We could not have asked for a better Tuesday afternoon treat than seeing Emily and her mother! Thank you again for everything you have done!
Emily and Dr. Hey discussing her gift baskets and SRS donation.
Below is Dr. Hey’s blog post the day after Emily’s surgery back in 2008.
>> http://drlloydhey.blogspot.com/2008/06/12-yo-emily-goes-home-from-hospital.html <<
“This past couple of weeks has been very busy caring for many of our younger scoliosis patients who have just recently gotten out of school. This past Wednesday, we cared for 12 yo Emily and her family. Emily had a 47 degree thoracolumbar curve, and got an excellent correction of her curve. Preop she had quite a crew here, including her parents, grandparents, pastor and his wife. The pastor led all of us in a wonderful prayer before surgery. Emily’s surgery went very smoothly, completing a T5-L3 instrumentation and fusion with thoracic and lumbar pedicle screw instrumentation. Her surgery took a little over three hours, and we were able to spare 3 discs below her fusion, based on preop bending films and intraoperative findings. As shown in X-Rays above, her correction is close to 100 percent, with the lower discs also leveling off nicely. Her estimated blood loss (EBL) was 1100 cc, and 500 cc was returned to her with the cell saver machine. She did not require blood transfusion. Her mom and dad and family were totally psyched to see her preop/postop X-Ray comparison right after surgery. They greeted Emily a couple hours after surgery up in their large private room, where the family stayed with her for the 3 nights in the hospital. Emily’s posture is excellent, with complete removal of the thoracic and lumbar “humps”. Her torso is in excellent balance, and she looks about 2 inches taller! Emily went home this morning with her parents, doing very well.
Best wishes, Emily, for a speedy recovery!”