File this under "I should have known."

A few years ago Kenzie had a little stuffed animal whose legs seemed too long in proportion to it's body. Kind of like this flamingo. It wasn't a flamingo but we've all forgotten what kind of animal it actually was. The point is... I used to joke around that the stuffed animal resembled it's owner with it's long legs and short body. I assumed that everything would even out when puberty hit.

Around this same time we took a family vacation and captured this picture of Kenzie (second from the top) in our travels.

We call it her "spaghetti noodle picture".
I should have known there was something a little twisty about a girl who can strike this pose! LOL
Indeed, a few months later at a regular check up her pediatrician noticed a slight curve in her spine. She recommended xrays which confirmed scoliosis and a 12-14 degree curve. Her ped. had a specialist look at the xrays and they recommended a wait and see approach. Unfortunately her curve got progressively worse as the years went on and now she's all the way up to 40+ degrees.
Together with her doctor we have all decided that it's the right time for her to get straightened up.
~She's young and will heal quickly.
~She doesn't have any of the pressing life challenges that she will as an adult. Like kids, jobs, etc.
~She has great health insurance coverage right now which is getting harder to find these days. Who knows what her insurance situation will be as an adult?
~Correcting the curve now lessens the chances that the curve will move to a lower and more difficult position to correct.
And so, on Monday our twisty girl gets an alignment. It's a major surgery. She'll be in the hospital for a few days and it will take several months for her to heal completely. But we're all confident that it's the right thing to do.
AND she'll be an inch or two taller next week! :)