Surgery has been scheduled

My doctor's office called me late Tuesday and asked if I wanted to schedule surgery. I've scheduled it for December 7th.

The plan is to go in through my side, remove a rib, collapse a lung, and do a bone graft on my vertebrae. Hopefully on the same day they will open up my back and put new rods in. He think I'll be hospitalized for about a week and he doesn't think I'll have to wear a brace after surgery.

Comparing this surgery to the surgery when they put the rods in:

I was 13 then. I'm 39 now.

No pain or worry about my spine then. A fair amount of pain and a lot of worry about my spine now.

Did not want to have surgery then... even begged them to wait. Now, can't wait to just get this surgery over with.

Better hardware and better procedure since my first surgery.

Then, they only opened my back, but they opened my entire back and put in lots of hardware. This time they need to open me from the side and the back, but they don't open my entire back and they only put in a small amount of hardware.

Then, hospitalized for 2 weeks. Now, doctor is predicting one week.

Then, god awful Milwaukie brace for 1 year. Now, doctor doesn't think I'll have any sort of brace. That brace I wore was the worst part of it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things will go as planned and there will be no brace this time.