Deenie and Darnell

All I know about scolosis is thanks to Judy Blume's book "Deenie" back in the day.  Physical beauty was so much apart of Deenie's life - she abhored the fact that she had scolosis and knew her life would be forever scarred as a result of having to wear a brace to correct it.  Deenie was even such an outsider that the only person who would talk to her was a pitiful girl with eczema.  That damn Judy Blume - that book terrorized me and every time we had to bend over and touch our toes at the yearly school scolosis exams, I would hold my breath and hope I didn't have scolosis.  I mean I may have had coke bottle glasses, braces and a jheri curl.  Lord knows I sure didn't want to add a scolosis brace in the mix.  Yikes. But I never saw a black girl with scolosis in the hood.  Nobody jumping double dutch in my neighborhood in reciting in the easter pageant.  Figured that was a middle class white girl thing like anorexia or cutting.

Two weeks ago, during his yearly exam my son's nurse practitioner asked me if he was screened for scolosis.  Nope, I said.  She said okay let's screen him now.  He bent over and she touched his back and asked me if there was any family history for scolosis.  None on my side, I said.  Wasn't sure about my husband's.  Nurse Practitioner wanted to get him in for an x-ray, so since he (right now) is a child with a parent with health insurance.  He got the x-ray the same day as his exam and the results later that night.  Scolosis.

What?  How could my breakdancing, skateboarding, football playing, biracial prince child have a white girl's disease? What the hell?  I immediately took to the message boards, scheduled an appointment with a pediatric orthopedic specialist and prayed.  Checked out surgeons from DC to Georgia and thanked God and the federal government that we found out about this while I am a federal employee with health insurance.  I also had mommy guilt - how the heck could my child have scolosis and I not know it.  Not see the curve in this back.  I'm not some un-connected, un-knowing mom.  No Columbine planning going on under my roof.  I go through laundry baskets, journals, e-mail, cell phones.  I know every book, magazine, t-shirt and pair of jeans in that child's room.  I have come home five minutes before my child has gone to sleep and notice a scar that hub didn't during a whole afternoon together.  So the thought of missing something as serious as a curvature in the spine - is tripping me out.

Anyway - I got my list together for the doctor.  Sent hub and kid to the doctor with the list and we're now moving forward with getting a brace.  We're also looking at baggy clothes again.  Bought our first big t-shirt yesterday to accomodate the brace.  Need to figure out how skinny jeans will fit in the equation. 

I think Judy Blume may need to write a sequel to Deenie and call it Darnell!!

For more information about scolosis, check out www.scoliosis.org - and get your kids screened!