Surgery on the 9th of June

[cherrylips]

My scoliosis surgery is NEXT WEEK!! I know I still have a week and I know that I will be alright after the surgery and all, but please give me something to believe in! Im afraid of the pain and needles. And I was just wondering, what kind of belongings do I need to bring for the hospital stay? I hope you guys can list it out for me And this might sound embarrassing, just out of curiousity what If I'm on my period? Will they still do the surgery? How am I gonna change myself since I'll be in bed for at least 2days. Any of you have been in that situation?

_____________________
20 Years F
T60degress, L20degress
Surgery on 9th of June
Pusat Perubatan Universiti Malaya

[golfnut]

Cherrylips,
I referred to this list when getting ready for my surgery. Best of luck to you!

http://www.scoliosislinks.com/PreparingforSurgery.htm

[jeneemohler]

You will do great! There are so many success stories on this forum. Keep reading and remember that your biggest friend will be PATIENCE. That seems to be our biggest obstacle, as many here will agree to. We all want to be better, FASTER. It just seems to take so darn long to recover. But you eventually get there. It is not a sprint, it is a journey. I am almost 6 months post op, and finally feeling a little more like a normal human again. But I would do it again in a heartbeat! Best of luck to you, and keep us posted on your progress when you are able.

[SARAHK]

Hi! I would say don't worry about what you bring to the hospital unless there are some items that are especially comforting to you. You will be so 'out of it' most of the time that all you'll want to do is sleep! My family were the ones who needed to bring stuff to do! They are the ones who get exhausted sitting in uncomfortable chairs, trying to comfort you, etc etc...it can be a really exhausting thing for family. So an important thing is to have people rotate out to come and sit with you. No one can stay there the entire time. It is not healthy at all!

Also, make sure your nurses stay on top of your pain medication and if they don't, have a family member make them come and give it to you! I found that if they let the time go and the pain becomes really bad, it's hard to get your pain level back down even after you take the medicine. So make sure they give it to you on time. Also, if you are ever in an unbearable amount of pain, you need to put the pressure on them to change your medication. This happened to me and they waited through the weekend to call the doctor! Not acceptable! Once he switched me from Loratab to something else...can't remember...I was a million times better. Most likely though, what they give you will work!

I actually started my period the day I went in and it was fine. When you are in ICU they take care of it. They've seen everything so don't worry about it! That will be the least of your problems. It will probably not last long anyway because of the surgery.

Hope that helps and good luck! You will be fine and so much happier once you're on the other side.

[SARAHK]

oh! forgot one thing that they might not have told you. My nurse told me to bring Peri-Colace for constipation because the meds really stop you up. The last thing you want when you've had back surgery is that! :P They may give that to you but for some reason she told me to bring my own.

[cherrylips]

Thank you for replying my thread and thanks for all the information I feel much better now. Hope everything will go well and smoothly. Thanks for the best wishes and will definitely keep you guys posted about my recovery soon.

[Houston Curves]

Don't be affraid of surgery or needles. I honestly cannot remember anything about the morning of surgery. LITERALLY, connot remember getting up or the hospital, or preop, postop, anyone that came to see me, etc. My first memories were weird. The hospital I was at had a dresser with a mirror like you find in a house. So, I thought that they moved me to someone house. Then I found the morphine pump after what seemed like 3 days....probably only one night....and realized that I could medicate when then light turned green. Then I was holding onto it and waiting for it to turn green. As soon as it was green I pounced on it. The time in the hospital was hard. I had a couple of non-understanding / non-caring nures, but on the whole, the staff was very nice. I won't lie, you wake up to a lot of pain, but most people I've read about here on the forum utimately recover without pain in the end.

So, don't worry about the needles or anything, because, if your surgery goes anything like mine, you won't remember anything about the IVs or surgery, etc.

Ann

My scoliosis surgery is NEXT WEEK!! I know I still have a week and I know that I will be alright after the surgery and all, but please give me something to believe in! Im afraid of the pain and needles. And I was just wondering, what kind of belongings do I need to bring for the hospital stay? I hope you guys can list it out for me And this might sound embarrassing, just out of curiousity what If I'm on my period? Will they still do the surgery? How am I gonna change myself since I'll be in bed for at least 2days. Any of you have been in that situation?

_____________________
20 Years F
T60degress, L20degress
Surgery on 9th of June
Pusat Perubatan Universiti Malaya

[cherrylips]

Op got postponed because im Orh- blood group. They need at least 2liters of blood. Blood bank ran out of 2liters. So the surgeon will call to reschedule my sugery date. The surgery will mosr probably be in 2-3weeks from now. Looks like i have to mentally prepare myself again. Thanks for replying my thread. Take care

[golfnut]

I'm sorry that your surgery was postponed. I was upset when mine was rescheduled from Nov. to Jan., however, I knew months in advance. Enjoy the next few weeks and then get mentally prepared again. You can do it.

[braceyourself]

In response to one of your original questions...

Don't worry, it's a question that needs to be asked. I started my period the day before my surgery... very disappointing. But the nurses will take care of everything, and you will be on so much medication, that you won't even notice. I had no idea. For the specifics, you can check out my blog. I dedicated a page to that kind of info called "No Boys Allowed". Hope you get your surgery scheduled and behind you soon!