Dear People I Love

Dear People I Love,

I may have seemed like a very normal person to you, but my insides aren't normal at all! I developed severe scoliosis or curvature of the spine when I was thirteen and several discs were fused at age fourteen. I lived in a plaster body cast for a year, since it was the Dark Ages of fusions and there was no instrumentation to hold my spine in place. I can truly say that my recovery was a highlight of my childhood, because I learned more than I possibly could have if I’d been a well-bodied kid.

In five days, I will leave for New York City in order to have a full-blown reconstruction of my spine at the Hospital for Special Surgeries. My original eight fusions will undergo 'revision'. Then, most of my thoracic and lumbar spine will be repositioned and held in place with two titanium rods, about twenty four pedestals (to hold the rods in place) and some crossbars. Included in this procedure will be the sacrifice of some of my ribs which will be used as bone graft material. The ribs will be ground up and the bits of bone will be placed in the spinal region. Dr. Oheneba Boachie, a tribal prince from Ghana, is my surgeon. He is world renowned and his 'miracle' spinal reconstructions have been highlighted on the Discovery Channel and Good Morning America.

I am a bit weepy as the day draws close, but I am not afraid. In fact, I want to create a YouTube video of my recovery so that other 'mature' adults will consider the surgery route if their scoliosis is progressing and making life difficult. Of course, that means I will need to recover in a way that is graceful enough to be inspiring. Good thing I'm not really vain, because I am fairly certain I am going to look like a truck ran over me!

Anyhow, this will probably be the only post written by Yours Truly. From now on, my children and my friend Dion will be providing the updates. If you want to connect with me, it would be best for you to write an email. In fact, I'd love to hear from you. The email address that my kids will be checking is gingerinrecovery@yahoo.com

I probably won't have the energy or coherency to speak on the phone and it's not because I don't love you. As I understand, the morphine is likely to scramble my brain. It may be as long as two months before telephone conversations will be possible. If a phone call needs to be made, you can contact my daughter Kelty at: 801-372-3540. (This is Ginger's cell phone.) If she is not avaliable, leave a message.