At age nine, Sabrina was
diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis with a twenty degree double curvature;
meaning, her spine was S-shaped due to a thoracic curve and a lumbar curve
jutted in opposite directions. For a year she only had x-rays every
few months to monitor the curvature as she grew. At age ten, it
increased to twenty-eight degrees, so she was placed in a full body (torso)
bending brace twelve hours a day. The bending brace overcorrected her spine to
allow only twelve hours per day wear versus twenty-four hours. She wore the
brace for five years and had x-rays regularly to monitor the
curvature. At age fifteen, an x-ray of her hip showed the growth plate closed,
indicating she was nearly done growing. Scoliosis protocol at that point indicates
bracing is no longer necessary.
Every patient is different, and
for Sabrina the curvature worsened out of the brace, the first year to
thirty-three degrees. An increase isn’t uncommon as the body adjusts to
life without a brace, but unfortunately her increase continued. When she
was seventeen, her curve worsened to thirty-seven degrees. Less than a
year later, to forty-four degrees. That x-ray led to Sabrina’s five-hour
surgery May 2012 at Duke Raleigh Hospital, performed by Dr. Lloyd Hey, the
top scoliosis surgeon in America who operates on professional and college
athletes.
Sabrina’s freshman year in
college (fall 2011), she started to suffer acute lower back pain. A
full scholarship swimmer at Virginia Tech, she pushed through the
pain during the swim season, especially at ACC Championships in February
2012 and NCAA Championships in March 2012. From fall 2011 to spring 2012,
she endured three in-hospital spinal injections and took pain meds and an
anti-inflammatory regularly. Due to the year of intense pain she
suffered, her Virginia Tech coach was stunned by her performance at ACC’s—she
broke records and her performance qualified her for NCAA
Championships. At NCAA’s, her right leg numbed due to nerve
involvement and her back muscles froze to protect her spine. Soon
after, an x-ray showed her curvature at forty-four degrees.
Surgery from T5-L1 (thoracic #5 to lumbar #1) was now inevitable.
Since x-rays give an extreme
limited view, Dr. Hey’s three-dimensional direct view was only available via
surgery, and during Sabrina’s five-hour surgery on May 2, 2012, he found her
rib cage concaved in four inches due to the rotation of her spinal curve (Think:
thoracic spine curved to the side and twisted inward). He straightened her
severely crooked spine, fused her vertebras, and inserted two parallel titanium
rods and twelve screws to hold her spine straight in-line. Sabrina is proud of
her scar from her thirteen-inch incision. It’s a reminder of how much she’s
overcome.
Unbelievably, less than eight
weeks post that surgery, she competed at the 2012 US Olympic Swim Team Trials
for a spot on the US Olympic Swim Team that competed in the 2012 Summer
Olympics in London. She qualified to swim at US Olympic Trials back in August 2010,
and she refused to not go and try to swim her best, so she started to get back
in shape only a couple weeks post scoliosis surgery, and she battled pain as
her body adjusted to the new positioning of her spine, scapulas, shoulders and
rib cage as well as all the surrounding muscles, tendons and ligaments. She
only began to find her new stroke with her new back when she swam in US Olympic
Swim Team Trials.
Sabrina is currently training
hard at Virginia Tech to compete at ACC Championships in February 2013.
I’m so thankful for Dr. Hey's expertise
and talent. Not only is he a skilled surgeon, he’s a man of God. Minutes before
Sabrina was wheeled into surgery, Dr. Hey and his surgical RN offered to pray
with us. My husband and I and our two younger children gathered hands with
Sabrina, Dr. Hey and the RN, and the seven of us prayed. Just a few hours after
Sabrina’s surgery, Dr. Hey and our family of five again gathered hands and
prayed, this time in thanks.
Through my husband’s cancer, God
led us to the Hey Clinic. Sabrina’s dad endured two surgeries and radiation
treatments at Duke Raleigh Cancer Center; inside that same building is Dr.
Hey’s office. As my husband and I approached the door to his Duke oncologist for the first
time, I spotted Hey Clinic Spinal Surgery
right across the hall. Soon after, I transferred Sabrina’s records from her
first scoliosis orthopedist to the Hey Clinic, sensing somehow behind that door
was the right scoliosis expert for her.
Thanks Dr. Hey!
Dianna
(Sabrina’s mom)
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