 Hi friends, I am Dr. Amritlar Mascarinis, Consultant Spine Surgeon at Manipal Hospital, Millers Road. So today we are here to discuss with three of our guests about their spinal ailments. Then we have Anushka, a young lady who had come presented with the deformity of the spine, what we call scoliosis, which can be quite deforming and could be a cosmetic problem and could also lead to pain and complications in the future. So we had to plan her treatment and she did undergo surgery and she will be doing her as her inputs on what she went through before during and after surgery and so that it can be a message to our viewers, as to young viewers, as to how they should look at their spinal problems. We have Anushka here, she is 20, she came to me with the complaints of a deformity of the spine. Of course she was diagnosed much earlier and at the age of around 13 maybe and then the doctors then felt that she did not need a surgery because the deformity of her spine was too small. So the deformity we are what we are talking about is scoliosis which is the sideward bending of the spine and it can have its own effects on individuals. So Anushka, could you share with us what were you going through before the surgery? What was it that you were feeling? What were the things that made you come to a spine specialist and seek help? What were those main factors that disturbed you in your life that made you say, okay, yes, I think I need to undergo a surgery of the spine? I was diagnosed with scoliosis much before I met the doctor but with time I think it became progressively worse and also the external deformity, the external appearance of it became worse and also in general just daily things like being able to sleep or wear certain kind of clothes, all of that slowly became a little bit more challenging and so that's when my parents and I decided that maybe it was time to consult a spine specialist and just make sure that we do the right thing to treat the disorder. So what made you conscious? Is it your own appearance in the mirror or was it some friends commenting or strangers commenting that hey, there's something? No, so I would, it was never negative comments, it was more like people would notice because it was pretty noticeable but it was never in the negative, it was more out of concern that they would come and ask me but yeah, personally just looking into the mirror and seeing it and also not just the external appearance but more like being able to do daily things like if I want to do some sort of exercise or like I said sit a certain way or sleep in a certain position those also became more difficult. Also with progression of scoliosis one develops pain and in the long run there can be weakness in the legs and the spinal deformity becomes much more rigid and progress is gradually and that can lead to severe problems much later like at the age of 40 or 15 and that could be a problem for individuals and at that point it becomes a much more challenging surgery so it's better to address scoliosis and such deformities at a much younger age. There's a popular myth among people that young children should not undergo surgery and that's really not true because the spinal canal the size the space meant for the nerves is fully formed by the age of 6 to 7 years and the deformity the bony structure gets fully formed by between the age of 10 to 16 and fusing the spine correcting deformities really doesn't lead to loss of height people have another apprehension that they lose height because of while we fuse and put so many screws into the spine. So that's not true they don't lose much most of the growth happens in the long bones of the body like the thigh and the leg and all that. So were you concerned when I told you that you'll need to be we'll need to put screws and do a major surgery which would last probably for about 4 to 5 hours. I think I knew I was mentally prepared when I walked in I knew that I might have needed surgery but for my parents definitely it was more of a taken they were taken aback a little bit reasonably so it's a pretty major surgery but I think for me the focus was more on the outcome because I was it wasn't it became a little bit more difficult to do like I said the daily thing so the focus was more like after everything I'll be a lot more comfortable but so I wasn't very very apprehensive of the surgery. So was there a lot of pain after surgery or was it manageable or comfortable surgery because it is a big surgery where we put an incision which is more than a foot long we insert screws which are like about 18 to 20 number we put rods in there do a manure which corrects the deformity and straightens a crooked spine which has been crooked for a long time so there's a lot of muscle imbalance which has to be corrected and there's a big incision so was there a lot of pain was it a torture to an unbearable experience after surgery? It wasn't unbearable it was completely manageable it took some time for me to get comfortable with my body after the surgery but it was definitely not like after the torture. Yeah okay good that's important to know because we all we are on the constant pursuit to reduce the patient's pain after surgery so that their surgical experience is much better. When did you walk after the surgery? People think that after surgery means bed rest and no walking around for a month or two. When did you walk after surgery? Two days after the surgery. And how many days were you in the hospital after that? Five days. So usually the surgical course is postoperative course is typically three to four days of admission and then the stitches come off by two weeks and within a month you were back to college. Did it affect your college life? Did it affect your academic pursuits? Definitely not I was I mean it took me around in a month I guess I was able to handle long days of college and things like that. Carry your backpack? Yes and now it's six months in and I'm able to handle 12-13 hour days very very easily and so it didn't take a lot of time away from college and things like that. So when I look at scoliosis there are certain aspects to it one is that of a pain factor, two is that of a cosmosis and three is the psychological impact it has on a person and also four whether it affects academics because usually we're dealing with young individuals. So in these four factors did you get a change in the pain perspective before and after surgery? Did it help in pain? Definitely did because the protrusion was a lot so it was very uncomfortable to lie down in it I don't know my back or to sit a certain way and things like that but now that's kind of evened out a little bit I'm able to do those things more comfortable. Cosmosis? A lot a lot. So cosmosis is major and academics not affected? No never made a difference and before surgery after surgery I mean the surgery didn't really stop or poses any obstacle with my academic perspective. And what do your friends say? I mean everybody who's close to me can like see a difference huge difference and they're very very happy that I went through with the surgery. So to put it in a nutshell you have two or three things to tell our young viewers on how you will. That surgery can be scary but if it's done but your doctors know what they're doing and if only they see that you require surgery they would recommend it to you and if they do it's nothing to be scared of everything is monitored and that you would be a lot more comfortable after you get the surgery so if that's the best thing for you you should get it done. And inside into your surgery we do have these devices during surgery which monitors your spinal cord function so that we can do a safe surgery. When we correct the deformity of the spine we actually monitor we put electrodes in the scalp as well as the legs and we pass electric current through the spinal cord to make sure that our screws and the deformity maneuvers correction maneuvers do not affect the spinal cord so that the patient is able to walk sooner after surgery. So a lot of planning and teamwork goes into surgeries which complex surgeries like scoliosis and tumors and so many other spinal surgeries. So that was Anushka for us thank you very much for your insights Anushka.