Bone

Jamming the film into the top of the light box, the doctor stared at the x ray of my spine and began pointing.

I stared at the ancient, twisted bones, lit up on the wall in front of me, my heart shriveled and sank to the linoleum tiles.

 "that can’t be me," I cried with the whiny, pitch of fear, "that looks like the spine of an 85 year old!" my fear quickly shifting to outrage.

“You have Scoliosis" the doctor added. "It is a degenerative spinal condition that is fairly common but your spine is degenerating more severely and earlier than normal."

"See this area here?"….he said, pointing into the gray clouds at bottom of the film…."there should be cushioning discs between these vertebrae," keep your vertebrae from grinding against each other, but yours are".... his voice trailed to a stop.

I am sorry to say this but I believe you will be in a wheelchair by the time you are 40.

I was 23 years old and pregnant with my second child.