My daughter had this surgery at Johns Hopkins over the summer prior to her first year of high school. She was able to return to school but allowed to take the elevator instead of stairs until she was healed. She played lacross and did cheerleading. She is now married and in her early 40s, with 4 children, and a nurse. Over the years she's had some troubles due to her job at the time entailed lifting a lot. Other than that, she's been ok. Of course airports have to know she has a rod in her back but she's traveled inside and outside of the US without issue. Oh, and she gained an inch in height after the surgery. Lol! Hope it goes as well for you! God bless!

@loismae59 I wanted to welcome you to Connect. Surgery for scoliosis involving rods attached to the spine is an extensive surgery and would be done by a spine deformity specialist. I am a Mayo spine surgery patient, and my surgeon is a deformity specialist. That wasn't what I needed. My surgery was for cervical stenosis. I have discussed with another patient here on Connect who was getting some different opinions at Mayo about deformity surgery. This post and those after it have some details about the surgical plan that can give you some information about how these cases are handled.

With scoliosis that needs surgical correction, sometimes a pie shaped piece can be cut from the vertebrae to change the angle as it relates to the next bone in the spine and it is secured with screws and rods and heals together. The surgeon needs to get the curve in the spine closer to normal and the spine should not curve sideways. All of that needs to be calculated mathematically when a surgical plan is designed for spine deformity surgery. Sometimes they make a 3 D printed model to study the case and refer to that during surgery. Of course, any fusing of the spine or placement of rods changes the spines ability to flex and move. That could affect walking if the pelvis and spine can no longer move in concert with each other. A patient may not have normal movement to begin with if there is a spine deformity. I don't have that experience myself with only a single level fused in my neck.

Here is some more about scoliosis. Dr. Fogelson in the video was my surgeon.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/neurology-neurosurgery/videos/adult-scoliosis-diagnosis-and-treatment-options/vid-20527937