Scoliosis Radiology with Stephanie
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[00:00:38] Chaundria: We've got another great podcast guest today, you guys. This is our radiology segment where we are talking not to the technologists and not to the doctors, but to the patients. So this is so much fun because as technologists, I love to hear what patients are saying and what they think about radiology exams and their experience because that is the only way we can make sure [00:01:00] that we're giving the best service and making sure we're taking care of the patients because.
[00:01:04] Chaundria: I was a patient in radiology. So today we have our guest, Stephanie Fornasier, and she's coming all the way from you guys, guests where my first guest from Melbourne, Australia. I have visited Melbourne, Australia. It is my favorite place in Australia. I've already told Stephanie that.
[00:01:19] Chaundria: So we had a nice. Conversation about that. She is gonna talk about her podcast that she has and she represents mental illness and TV and she's gonna talk more about that cuz she can say it better than I can. But she is a podcaster like me. But I just find it so fascinating her experience with radiology because you have dealt with scoliosis and that is a whole gamut of x-rays.
[00:01:43] Chaundria: It starts as a child and so much more. So I want you to tell everyone you know who you are, and thank you for being on my podcast, sharing your experience in radiology, and we wanna get to know you. So welcome Stephanie to the podcast.
[00:01:56] Stephanie: Thank you so much, Chaundria it's good to be here. Thank you [00:02:00] for introducing me and I'm also a fellow podcaster. My podcast is called Psycho Cinematic and it's about the representation of mental illness and disability in film and tv. I'm a psychologist and so it's a bit of a, something that I like to talk about a more is really interested in and I get lots of guests with lived experience as well on the podcast.
[00:02:22] Chaundria: That is so cool. So tell us what is scoliosis, because some, because some people may not know. So what is scoliosis? When were you diagnosed with it and when did you start getting your first set of x-rays?
[00:02:35] Stephanie: So scoliosis is a curvature of the spine. So from what. My, my understanding is scoliosis is when it's sort of, it's curves from side to side, so like laterally I guess. And there's also kyphosis where you sort of get that, that sort of hunch. So it's sort of curves front to back, I guess. So it's.
[00:02:56] Stephanie: When it starts as a child, it's called adolescent idiopathic [00:03:00] scoliosis, which means it, it doesn't have any actual cause it's just a, seems to be some sort of genetic component to it. So I, it was seen that I had a curve when I was 14 and just one day I was bending over into the fridge, getting something outta the fridge, and I think my mom's friend was like, What's wrong with your back, Steph?
[00:03:21] Chaundria: Oh wow.
[00:03:23] Stephanie: until that point, none, no one had really realized there was. Anything going on. And I hit puberty quite late, so yeah, it sort of, it often comes on, on in puberty. So when I was about 14, it, it definitely was prominent. And so in, in, in Australia, I was like, I think it was at the end of year nine moving into year 10.
[00:03:42] Stephanie: So by the time I turned 15, I had been Had quite a few x-rays and was fitted with a back brace, so a, a Boston back brace, I guess you'd call it. So a full body brace made out of like fiberglass and metal inside. And yeah, I wore it for about two and a half years.
[00:03:59] Chaundria: [00:04:00] I was gonna ask you, how long did you have to wear it? Because one of my friends, her daughter had to be fitted for the brace, and I've seen it in work. But to know someone and see them through that, those years have to wear it, especially during the time period of puberty. She was about 12,
[00:04:17] Chaundria: and she was just a frail little thing. And I never really noticed that her shoulders were like this until all of a sudden when she turned like 12, it's like I was, something's a little off. And that's when, like you said, that's when it's kind of noticed. And they do the checks here in the US and school, at least when I was in school, they check you for scoliosis, you have to bend over, they run their hand down your spine.
[00:04:37] Chaundria: But that was an elementary school, so for many people it's not till like sixth grade.
[00:04:42] Stephanie: oh, I don't think we had that. Like, I have no memory of at school having a back check, like bending over and them checking your spine. I don't think, I think that that was common in Australia, but for some reason it didn't happen for me. So yeah. That's interesting.
[00:04:57] Chaundria: Yeah, so when she had it, and it was, so I, I [00:05:00] tell this story because she's an adult now. We laugh about it, but I was babysitting some of my other friends' kids and they were all about teenage years, 12 years old, but they, so they were playing and she would, she couldn't play because she had the brace on.
[00:05:12] Chaundria: And she just sat there and looked at everybody and they were running around playing, and I felt so bad because her mother gave her strict instructions. The only way she could come over is if she did not roughhouse with anybody. She could not play at all because. She had to, you know, keep her spine stabilized and she had so much fun just standing there watching everybody.
[00:05:32] Chaundria: It was, it was, we laugh about it now because she was like, I knew not to play, but I just enjoyed watching everybody because I knew one day I'll be back in there and she, you know, she got through it. We had a great, great evening, but it was so fun watching the kids and they just played around her because they knew she couldn't play, you know, physically.
[00:05:50] Chaundria: So they kind of did other things as well. But that has to be, Now what things, what x-rays do you remember? You know, having to get, was it a lot of x-rays? Was it [00:06:00] long periods of getting x-rays? Were you there all day?
[00:06:02] Stephanie: I, well, I definitely had a few x-rays at the beginning. Like, I think at first there were full body x-rays, so I'd have to stand up by a wall in a big room. Very cold. I remember being very cold and have the full body x-rays. So yeah, like against it. Contraption, you, you probably know all the technical terms.
[00:06:22] Stephanie: Cuz this was, you know, a while ago now. So I'd have one, like when I first, it was first detected, I had, I think it was just through whatever was local at the time. And then we went to the doctor and had a look. And I remember seeing this because it was a perfect S-curve. And I remember looking at it going, oh, who backs that Then? The doctor, like, well, this is your spine. Like, oh, it's mine. So that was a little bit overwhelming. And then I think they did a few more just to make sure they knew like what sort of, what sort of treatment to get. I went and saw an orthopedic [00:07:00] surgeon and then they. Suggested wearing the brace because I still was definitely not growing.
[00:07:05] Stephanie: Hadn't f finished growing at that point. And then when I was in the brace, they wanted an x-ray to just make sure that it was stabilizing my spine in the right places.
[00:07:16] Chaundria: Right.
[00:07:16] Stephanie: Also getting the brace fitted was an interesting experience in that I had to lie on this. Just like strip it was kind of, I had to balance myself.
[00:07:25] Stephanie: And then they wrapped me, wrapped me with plaster to get like o over my entire body to get I, I was wearing like a body sock as well. In order to make the mold for the brace and sit there, stand, like, lie there for a while, and that was a bit uncomfortable.
[00:07:43] Chaundria: I could imagine.
[00:07:44] Stephanie: Yeah, and then break it out and then Eventually they'd made the brace and they'd fit me in it.
[00:07:49] Stephanie: And yeah, I think I had a checkup about every six months to just make sure it was doing what it needed to do. Which was really not to correct the spine, but just pre prevent it [00:08:00] from progressing. Prevent the curve from progressing further. And then after a year of wearing the brace, I had another x-ray in and out of the brace to see.
[00:08:11] Stephanie: Do we keep using the brace or, you know, get a new brace or is, is this all we need to do or do we look at surgery? And I think the outcome was that I was still growing, but it was preventing it from progressing. So another year in the brace was, was what was recommended, but I got fitted for a new one that which at first it had like, All up here was, there was brace, but the second one, it was just below below my ribcage.
[00:08:37] Stephanie: Yeah.
[00:08:37] Chaundria: Wow. So you, how long did you wear the brace, the scoliosis brace?
[00:08:42] Stephanie: It was, I think in total about two and a half years. So I started when I was like 14, turning 15. And by the time I was in year 12, when I was 17, I was phasing out of wearing the brace.
[00:08:54] Chaundria: Wow. So I wanna ask you, can you live a good life with scoliosis? [00:09:00] Because as a preteen, as a teen, okay. You say Yes. Tell us why. U s A, yeah. Or why was it a good experience for you?
[00:09:06] Stephanie: Well, I didn't love wearing the brace. It definitely, honestly, it probably impacted my self image, my body image, a fair bit. I couldn't wear clothes like everybody else was wearing at the time, especially in summer. In Australia, it's very hot. But I could definitely do a lot of things in it Still, I could still participate in most activities.
[00:09:30] Stephanie: I got out of a lot of things that I didn't wanna do from it which was fine for me. I wasn't a particularly active kid. Like I wasn't a, I didn't play soccer or anything like that, which wasn't recommended anyway. But you can do most things with it. I think. I had about, of a window of about, I think it was an hour I could spend out of the brace, which was your time to like shower, just air yourself out, put, put cream on or whatever.
[00:09:55] Stephanie: And that can be time that you spend like doing some [00:10:00] activities or running around. Swimming was really, is really good for your back. So that was encouraged. Yeah. So I did swim a fair bit and that was like, ah, I don't have to wear my brace while I'm swinging, so that's good.
[00:10:11] Chaundria: And that probably takes pressure off of your spine, you know, and it's a activity that can strengthen the muscles around the spine, the whole, you know, strengthen the whole structure of your body, your skeletal structure, because. The spine hold up a lot. So when you x-ray the full, and I don't think I'm gonna put a picture up here, so people can really see the different types of scoliosis that there are.
[00:10:32] Chaundria: Some people have a slight curve at the top, some have a slight curve at the bottom. I see patients, especially older people, who did not have the checks like we have in school or the corrective braces they've lived their whole life with, I mean, Deep curves. I mean, literally they're in the the best S I've ever seen.
[00:10:53] Chaundria: And they have functioned. They have worked, you know, they have never had a surgery. They've never worn a brace, but they just figured [00:11:00] out a way around it, and they have lived very long, healthy lives. You know, they just couldn't do certain things that other people could do because their spine just couldn't do it.
[00:11:09] Chaundria: But a lot of them never really knew what scoliosis was. You know, thank goodness for the technology that we have, and that's why I tell people, you know, radiology is such an important. Aspect of in, of the medical profession, because we kind of touch every, every part of healthcare. There's, I mean, when it comes to dental, you can't do proper dental work without x-rays.
[00:11:31] Chaundria: You can't do surgery without live x-rays, without, you can't put in stents when people have vascular issues or strokes or blockages. You have to use x-ray. Those come into all different plays. I mean, x-rays, radiology is. Such an important place is such an important role in healthcare and even when it comes to scoliosis, especially so many young people are diagnosed with it severe cases and not so severe cases, but you're showing that you can lead a a regular life and even make [00:12:00] it to your advantage, you know, work it to your advantage.
[00:12:02] Stephanie: And it, I think having scholarly, because I didn't get surgery, I just had the brace. Surgery was an option, but I was like, I'm not gonna be a, a catwalk model or a gymnast. So I'm, I'm okay with my back the way it is. And like, but, but you know, if people go the surgery route, that can be amazing too.
[00:12:22] Stephanie: But the only real concern I had with having. Still quite a significant curve is maybe childbirth cuz I gave birth to my son three, almost three years ago now. And the only like when I was going through like my. Gynecologist and, and talking through birthing options. I was like, can I have a, you know, a natural birth or a, a vaginal birth because I'm concerned that, you know, my hips won't be in the right positioning or there won't be.
[00:12:51] Stephanie: Cuz I have It's still quite a, quite a significant curve there is, is it gonna be safe for the baby? And that was all fine. The only concern they had is if [00:13:00] I have an epidural, can they get the right spot? But I brought my X-rays in my, my films in so that they could actually see what my spine looked like, so that when they were giving me an epidural, which I did get they could know exactly where the right spot was.
[00:13:17] Stephanie: So they didn't like miss. That would
[00:13:20] Chaundria: That's important.
[00:13:21] Stephanie: Yeah, so that, I guess if, if there's any mums there who or you know, parents that are, are wanting to, to give birth vaginally and they have a curve, if you have an x-ray of where your spine is bring that in so that your anesthesiologist knows where it is.
[00:13:37] Stephanie: Cause I think it was genuinely helpful cuz they
[00:13:39] Chaundria: Oh yeah, that is, that's a great tip. I'm so glad you put that in. I think that is so important because I would've never thought of that. Trying to put in an epidural on that is, I guess cuz because I do lumbar spines and MRIs all the time and I see curvatures, so some people don't even know they have such curves in their spine.
[00:13:59] Chaundria: [00:14:00] They just don't know. So it is just amazing how when people see it and they're like, that's my spine. I've lived all these years with that. Yeah. That contributes to maybe why you've had a little hip pain, why you've had a little numb, you know, certain things going on, mid back pain and you just didn't know it.
[00:14:15] Chaundria: But I love that you just shared that tip, not only for young people when it comes to scoliosis, but for women to really. The importance of radiology when it comes to even using it to put in an epidural because someone has a different type of spine curvature. You would need that to see that. So that, that's really nice.
[00:14:31] Chaundria: Now, I do want to ask you, because your podcast is, you represent mental illness and TV and you know, tell us more, more about your podcast. And I wanna ask that because you went through puberty is a very, very, very stressful time. And if you have any type of body image or any type of things, most of us has gone through, maybe our acne is so bad around that time, you know?
[00:14:54] Chaundria: And it's like, oh my goodness, my face has never looked so bad at a pivotal time when I really was trying to [00:15:00] just grow up and go into my adulthood, and it was the worst time in my life, you know, we all look, have that awkward stage around then. But to go through wearing your brace during that was. Was that part of, or, or, or how could ones make sure that mental health, especially ones during pre puberty, are going through that time where they maybe have to wear certain medical devices in order for their health to be better in the long run?
[00:15:25] Chaundria: What, what tips would you have and how would your podcast be of help?
[00:15:28] Stephanie: I guess. Lots of things to be said. I think as you, as you just said perfectly adolescence is like one of the most brutal times and I don't think any of us have had a perfect experience growing up as a teenager. There's so many. You know, our brains are developing so quickly and we're trying to figure out who we are and what we wanna be, who we wanna be.
[00:15:50] Stephanie: So things like. Wearing a back brace or having surgery or anything that makes you a bit different, makes it doubly hard to cope. And I [00:16:00] guess a really, I guess why that's, I think that's sh that's definitely made an impact on where I'm at today. I was always interested in psychology and I think it kind of started around that time when I was going through treatment for scoliosis because it was, S you know, how I experienced the world was a bit different from everybody else.
[00:16:19] Stephanie: And how I had to think about things a bit more about, you know, can I do this and what can I wear today and, and trying to fit in and all of those things. And, you know, there was a little bit of bullying there, but I was with nerds anyway, so we were bullied for that. You know, it, it definitely made an impact on me wanting to be a psychologist but also, In trying to normalize those experiences.
[00:16:41] Stephanie: I feel like we're in a better place now for kids who are a little bit different, cuz I think there's more out there in the media promoting more positive stories. There's not a lot about scoliosis really.
[00:16:53] Chaundria: No, it's not.
[00:16:54] Stephanie: the, I don't know if you Have ever seen this movie, but the only movie [00:17:00] around, like someone who's gone through scoliosis or surgery was like looking for Mr.
[00:17:04] Stephanie: Goodbar. It's a terrible, it's a really traumatizing film. It stars Diane Keaton. And it's not, you know, it's a not a positive tale. And like, like that's just one example of seeing more people who you identify with in the media and it being a positive story or just a story, like it not being a big deal.
[00:17:24] Stephanie: And you know, I've gone through mental health issues as well myself with anxiety and depression and being able to see some. More realistic stories and some stories that speak to us more around those things rather than it just being depression is bad and You know, you, if, if you're going through these things, then there's no sort of hope or there's no positive outcome or these people are different.
[00:17:50] Stephanie: Seeing more of that on our screens is, is something I'd love to see more of. And also disability representation too. That's always been something interest interesting to me. [00:18:00] I myself am not a disabled person, but I do identify
[00:18:04] Chaundria: Right, right.
[00:18:05] Stephanie: with, with many of. Aspects of being disabled and also I've worked in the disability field for most of my career, so that was always really interesting to me.
[00:18:15] Stephanie: So yeah, that's why we analyze those depictions on our screens and film. And I always wanna, I just love talking about it too, and like, how is this a good depiction or could it be better? And what does, you know, what does the community say and things like that.
[00:18:29] Chaundria: I think that's so important because when you watch tv, at least for me in the radiology field, so as radiologic technologists, we all cringe when we see TV shows because majority of the time they don't represent radiology in a. accurate light, I will say usually they use our name incorrectly.
[00:18:47] Chaundria: They'll have a x-ray upside down, you know, like a chest x-ray. I, I did a, a TikTok where the x-ray was upside down and I'm like, Come on, you guys like, that's not correct. You should have somebody you know, [00:19:00] and, or they'll, I always get patients that come in and they're like, terrified of this. M r I, like the machine is going to eat them up and they, I won't say the name of the show, but it's one of my favorite medical shows.
[00:19:11] Chaundria: It's not on anymore. The, the main character is hilarious. He's a little over the top, but he's hilarious. But it always depicts, I.
[00:19:18] Stephanie: guess what it is.
[00:19:19] Chaundria: Yeah, you, you know what it is, but it always depicts M r I as like the loudest worst exam ever. And people literally watch that show before they come and get their m r I like, don't watch it before you get your M r I.
[00:19:34] Chaundria: But it's not accurate and I think it's important even in the TV shows to be accurate because people do take that anxiety with them. To the, to their test. And they're already anxious over the problem that they're there for. Now on top of that, what they've seen on TV is not accurate. So they just feel like this is, you know, this is terrible.
[00:19:56] Chaundria: And they either cancel the exam, don't show up, or really struggle [00:20:00] through it. So I, I love how your podcast brings awareness to the things, especially in TV because people spend hours watching TV people. Yeah.
[00:20:08] Stephanie: I still get people going, oh, why do you care so much? Or you're, you are overthinking. It's just a TV show. It's just a movie. But that is totally what shapes our experiences of things, particularly things we don't know much about or when new to like for example, rain Man was such a pivotal part of people's understanding of autism and now what we know about autism is.
[00:20:28] Stephanie: Far surpassed what we see in Rainman. So it really shapes our understanding and, and our interest in things. So yeah, it absolutely makes sense that from what people see in a radio radiology exam on TV is gonna influence how they feel about it.
[00:20:44] Chaundria: Exactly. So everyone, you have got to check out our podcast. I will put all the links in the description there, so be sure to check out this podcast because it's something we all need to hear. Now, I wanna end off with you giving a short piece of advice to our listeners [00:21:00] who maybe are going through scoliosis treatment and need a tip on how to deal with it mentally and emotionally.
[00:21:07] Chaundria: What tip would you give them?
[00:21:08] Stephanie: I think be kind to yourself. Allow yourself to experience all the emotions that are gonna come with it. They're all normal emotions. They're all reasonable, rational, rational emotions. It's not gonna last forever. Whatever you're going through right now will end you will get through it and you can We're in a good position right now.
[00:21:29] Stephanie: Whatever your body looks like, it's beautiful. It can be fashionable. You, your beauty isn't just what your, the, the curvature of your spine. And for some, that can be beautiful and fashionable as it is. So yeah, love yourself and make sure you've got lots of support around you as well, and do all the things that make you feel good.
[00:21:49] Chaundria: I love that. And thank you so much, Stephanie, for being a guest all the way from Australia today on our podcast and sharing your experience with the radiology, radiology exam, scoliosis, and [00:22:00] how you have encouraged positivity for mental health and disability through TV programs. So you guys, thank you so much Stephanie again for being a podcast guest.
[00:22:09] Chaundria: And until next time.
And that's a wrap for this episode of a couple of Brad Tech's podcasts. We hope you enjoyed our discussion of the fascinating world of radiology and learned something new about the role we play in the healthcare industry. If you have any questions or topics that you'd love for us to cover, Feel free to reach out and let us know what they are.
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