Scoliosis and Chiari Malformation
Hello, I'm Stephanie Eiland. I was diagnosed with Scoliosis the summer before I was to start 4th grade. My parents noticed that when I walked one of my shoulders was noticeably shorter than the other one and were a bit concerned. So, they carried me to my local doctor, where he took X-rays and told me I had a right degree curve in my back, and he would just check up on it every couple of months. My parents felt something was still wrong. My mother got on the computer and started looking up doctors and facts about Scoliosis. She found Dr. Killian at Children's Hospital and we immediately made an appointment to see him. Dr. Killian had me have an MRI which showed him my curve was not a right degree curve, but a left degree curve. Dr. Killian referred us to Dr. Oakes soon after. Dr. Oakes informed me that I had a Chiari Malformation. I soon had Surgery for that. Before I had that surgery I would have headaches everyday, then after the surgery it was like they were just gone, it was a miracle. After a couple of visits with Dr. Killian my curve just would not stop increasing so I had rod surgery. About a year after that I had one more surgery for my Chiari Malformation. Dr. Oakes had said, if we had waited too long to have that surgery I could have slowly lost ability to control my nervous system. (Not able to grab the door handle, hold a cup of water, etc.) That last surgery was three years ago and I am so much better now. Children's Hospital was by far my favorite hospital to visit. Everyone is so incredibly nice. During Christmas after one of my surgeries they had a HUGE Gingerbread House and we got to decorate it! Also one time a group of people that had come back from Iraq came into my room and gave me a teddy bear that I will treasure always. I don't know where I would be today without Children's Hospital and God by my side.
