Before research projects are funded, the real question people ask is why is this important? Why could this research be a benefit to us and our society? In this post, I'm going to take this question and change it a bit, and answer why this is important to me.
This post will conclude my mini 3 part endeavor into my personal journey with scoliosis spinal fusion surgery and its complications.
In my last post I talked about how I had a complication involving my adrenal gland and my blood pressure. Following everything with the ICU and going home, and seeing the endocrinologist to get some sort of confirmation on what exactly happened to me, I realized that I am not the only kid who's had to go through this following this surgery, and I certainly didn't have it the worst.
Carrying around the needle with an emergency dose of hydrocortisone and having to teach my friends how to use it made me feel fearful, even if this wasn't the biggest thing that's ever happened to me.
Through experiencing this, it made me wonder what about the kids whose surgery didn't work all together, or the kids who's rods break? How hard was this on them?
Maybe this research isn't the most pressing issue in our modern society, but I wanted a project that felt close to me, and this fit the bill exactly.
Most of the people I know who had the surgery didn't have any complications, and I'm grateful for that, but that doesn't eliminate those who did.
I read in an article that this surgery has a large rate of complications and have talked about rates in a previous post. It's hard to determine exactly why, but as someone who was given no answer as to why my blood pressure dropped so severely, I want to be able to seek it out (although I expect not much as I'm only a high school senior).
This is really interesting, and even more compelling since it's so personal to what you've been through! Will you also be looking at pain levels and the emotional impacts of going through this surgery, or specifically on medical complications?
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