Post the Thirteenth - she's got steel in her spine

I have some exciting news! Before I elaborate, though, I suppose I'd better give you some background - I'll try and keep it brief.

Here goes.

Those of you who know me in real life, even if it has only been for a fairly short time, are probably aware of my skew spine. What you may not be aware of is the fact that it was perfectly straight until I got to the age of fourteen, when I developed spasms in my groin so intense that they pulled my left hip out of place, causing me to sit at a slant to compensate. You probably also won't know that I've seen several different orthopaedic consultants since then. All of them have tried to persuade me to have an operation called a spinal fusion, where a titanium rod is placed in your back to hold it in the correct position, and to which I have always said 'thanks, but no thanks' - for several reasons. I won't go into the details here, because some of them are pretty personal and don't only involve me, so suffice to say that I wasn't a fan. 

Of course, I was sensible enough (even at seventeen, which is when I last changed consultant, after moving home from boarding school) to know that it's important to keep discussions open, and I agreed to mull things over. In fact, it was during this period of musing that I heard the phrase that provided me with the title of today's post. I was visiting Oxford with Mama, to get a feel of the place before I made a decision about my choices for my UCAS form (the UK university application system), and we spent the night at Mansfield College. We went to the open day, found out all sorts of interesting information, and I knew I wanted to apply to Oxford (which I did, although I ended up choosing Wadham). Before we got loaded into the car to get home, Mama dropped our room keys off at the Porter's Lodge, and he said, 'She'll go far, she's got steel in her spine.' His choice of metaphor couldn't have been more coincidental, and it made me laugh and cry all at once, because I had decided to leave the surgery for the time being. I wanted to see what happened if I went on my own for a bit - and his words unwittingly gave me the strength to believe I could do so.

Anyway, the reason I'm rambling on about this is that today I saw my consultant for the first time since then. (I've had regular check ups and x-rays in between, but I've only seen his registrar.) I had yet another x-ray (I must have so much radiation in my body by now, I'm surprised I'm not glowing!) and then went in to discuss the results. Well, I'm very pleased to tell you that my spine hasn't changed since my last check in 2012, which means that over the course of two years, although it hasn't got better, it hasn't got worse. (That's a long time when it comes to bones.) It's also still super flexible, so there's scope for improvement outside the bounds of surgery. Huzzah!

I'm a very happy bunny with a very happy body!