2025 Ali Olsen, Syracuse HS

The unseen struggle of a spinal fusion.

It was the summer before I started my first year in junior high school. I was going to a doctor’s appointment with my pediatrician for an annual checkup. This was the day that I was diagnosed with scoliosis. When I first heard the news, it wasn’t very shocking or alarming due to not knowing but about scoliosis. However, at this time I didn’t realize how serious my condition was.

I was sent to go get x-rays of my back and the next day my pediatrician called to explain how they found two curves on my spine. One of the curves was 27 degrees which is high enough to require a brace for treatment. Bracing was just a small portion of my journey due to the fact I would never wear it because of how uncomfortable it really was. I started out by wearing the brace 20 hours a day 24-7. It didn’t last long until I completely stopped wearing the brace. This is where my journey started.

It’s my junior year of high school and I was part of my school’s lacrosse team. We were about halfway through our training season when I started getting severe pain in my back and had shortness of breath. I had an idea of why I was feeling this was due to my earlier diagnosis of scoliosis. But it has been years since I went to my specialist, so I never really knew how bad my spine was.

I came to my mom about my concerns and at this time we decided it would be beneficial to get new x-rays done. I was nervous knowing that the only treatment left is a spinal fusion.

We look at my x-ray directly after they were taken. Tears started running down my face once I looked. I couldn’t believe that it was my spine they were showing. My biggest curve was around 72 degrees. This news was heartbreaking. I didn’t know what was in store for me and had no idea how serious the surgery I needed was.

My pediatrician recommended me to a surgeon that is located at Primary Children’s Hospital. Once I met the surgeon for the first time we talked about surgery and what it entails. I decided to schedule my surgery at the end of the school year so I wouldn’t get behind in school.

The day of my surgery finally came, and I became an emotional downfall. I was worried about all the things that could go wrong. I imagined every possible scenario and all lead down terrible outcomes. I remember when I had to say goodbye to my parents as they started wheeling me away to the OR room. I was bawling my eyes out because I thought I wouldn’t wake up and would never get to see my family again.

8 hours later I finally woke up. I was in my hospital room with my surgeon standing over me. She told me that the surgery went well but I did lose more blood than she anticipated. The next week I had to stay in the hospital so they could keep an eye on me. This week entailed many sleepless nights and many crying sessions. I have never in my life been in so much pain. I was on every possible pain medication and nothing helped. My surgeon was also starting to get worried because I was looking for very pain and my blood pressure was getting so low she was thinking about giving me a blood transfusion.

I came home to recover and spent most of my summer inside laying in bed. The countdown to my senior year was coming soon and I hadn’t recovered as fast as I hoped. I was nervous about returning to school. I had countless problems that would restrain me from reaching my full potential in school. I couldn’t sit and stand for a whole class period and often found myself going home. The school, however, was very accepting of my struggles and helped me to feel comfortable in any way possible. It took months before I was able to sit through a whole class period. And to this day I still have daily pain in my back that makes it hard to attend school. I have come to learn to never let my back pain restrict me from my learning opportunity and to push forward with positivity no matter how hard some days get.