new here;;;

[sam-xox]

hhey,,, im new on this site and i just found out about 2 months ago that i need scoliosis surgery. now, with it coming up in the next two weeks, im very scared. i have no idea what to expect in terms of amount of pain, recovery time, ability to move after... ect.plzzz help!!

[ScoliGal]

are you having posterior? i had it heres my scar
http://img336.imageshack.us/img336/9780/myscarlg9.jpg

[ScoliGal]

My Surgery Story

June 5th - ~*Pre-Op*~
I woke up at 5:45 AM and I got to the hospital at 7AM. Waiting was the hardest and the longest part. I was the third in line and I was finally called at 11AM. I went inside the nurses' station and was asked my medical history. My mom did most of the talking. Then, the nurses took a blood test and I was sent back to the waiting area. 5 minutes later I was at the surgery floor and I was waiting in line to see my anesthesiologist. We talked with him and my parents. He said it was ok to have a cold during surgery because I had really bad cold I think. After 15 minutes of talking, we went back down to the nurses station and I had a phyisical examination. And I was done! All this took 30 minutes, and the waiting was like 4 hours!!! I was all prepped for surgery.

June 7th - ~*Surgery Day*~
I woke up at 4AM and I was to be at the hospital at 6AM. I barely waited, 5 minutes, and then I got called in to have my bracelet put on. It was pink. By this time, I was getting pretty nervous. I was dressed in a hospital gown 15 minutes later, and I lied down on a hospital bed enclosed by some gray curtains. I waited for 30 minutes until a nurse finally came to place an IV in my hand. It hurt a lot, I mean STUNG!!! She injected something into the IV that made me more calm. I think it made me too calm because I never go to see myself being wheeled to the Operating Room. The last thing I remember was waiting for an answer from my doctor to see if I was getting a bone graft from my hip. (I did not...they used a cadaver bone.)

~*Recovery Room*~
I woke up and my face was all balloony-like. My back hurt a little bit and I remember asking a lot of questions, like, "What did my curve get reduced to?" I asked that question a million times because I always forgot that I had asked it. When I woke up I remember I had 3 IVs, two in my left hand, and one in my right hand. I had a drainage tube thing on my back, which I didn't feel, a foley catheter which felt kinda funny, and an oxygen mask which kept sliding on my face so I asked for a nasal cannula. I found out I had gotten a blood transfusion of two pints.


~*ICU*~
My experience in ICU wasn't all that pleasant. I remember I had the room to myself. I asked for a pillow so I could watch TV better. Believe it or not I watched TV for seven hours straight that day. I wrote it in my diary. I was bored that day. Every two hours a nurse came to inject some morphine into my IV which did not make me sleepy. It stung my hand everytime she did it. I didn't have a nurse call button, so to get a nurse's attention I had to scream my head off. I remember calling them really louldy for 15 minutes just so I could have a wet gauze for my sweaty face. The only funny thing that happened was that this really cute young doctor mistaked me for another patient and he started unbuttoning my shirt, and I got really nervous...lol...I didn't get any ice chips as here in Puerto Rico they don't do that. I wasn't thirst or hungry anyway. I just wanted to watch TV. I spent a total of 28 hours in ICU. I was also on Morphine by IV but without the pump.

June 8th - ~*Post Op Day 1*~
I was still in ICU in the morning and I got moved to a regular room at 6:30PM. They didn't have space in the surgery floor so I was placed in a non-surgery floor. I got a private room at no cost!!! My doctor came to see me that day and I was happy to see him because I like him a lot. Because he is very liberal about restrictions. This day many of my church members came to visit with me. I was glad to see them. I was still laying on my back. I was getting morphine shots on my thigh! Oh and I started respiratory therapy today. My cold had gotten worse. I had to breathe in deep and make three balls go up to the top.

June 9th - ~*Post Op Day 2*~
I didn't sleep the night before so I was watching TV, when suddenly the door opened. Ahh...it was my doctor. I was scared because I knew what was going to happen next. This was sit up day. First, I got rolled to one side so the doctor could remove my drain with his hand. It didn't hurt really it just bothered me a little bit. I couldn't control my bed, so my doctor inclined my bed to sitting level. Ahh!! I screamed my head off!! It was really painful for the bed to move upward. I cried in front of him. Then he went away and I was glad for that. Again, many church members came to visit me. Well, let's just say they came to visit me everyday. Oh, and took my first sip of water and a bite of jello today. Still on morphine shots, and then switched to tylenol with codeine liquid form at night.

June 10th - ~*Post Op Day 3*~
This was the most scariest of my days at the hospital. This was stand up and sit down on an arm chair day. But there was more that I was soon to find out!!! My doctor didnt come that day, but did his assistant and a nurse. He came to my room and set my bed down, again I screamed my head off!! I was used to it being up!! Wait what are they doing? The assistant and the nurse suddenly flipped me over so I was laying on my stomach. What are they going to do to me??? I was scared!! They ripped of my bandage and sprayed some kind of numbing spray on my back. Ready for your staples to come out?? What? Staples? I thought I had dissolving stitches! My back was stapled! They were 76 of them. Every time they pulled one out it felt like many ongoing mosquito bites. Then he put on some steri strips and another bandage.

June 11th - ~*Post Op Day 4*~
Discharge day? No, not yet. But I was supposed to be discharged today. I stood up and walked down the hall with major assistance by church friends and family members holding on to my arms. Side by side... I remember I was really bloated, I felt like a young pregnant mother.

June 12th - ~*Post Op Day 5*~ or ~*Discharge Day*~
Today I am to be discharged. I haved walked a lot up and down the hallway. I was taken down to X-ray during the morning and then I was weighed 114 lbs. I gained 3 lbs in the hospital. I don't know how because I didn't eat or drink for 2 days and a half. It must be all that gas. My doctor came to see me in the afternoon and discharged me.. I was ready to go home!! Luckily my hospital is only 20 minutes away from my house. I bumped my head as I got in and I cried all the way home. lol I could feel every bump in the road!! Not fair! I arrived home at about 6PM and I just wanted to go to bed because I was tired. It took me 30 minutes to properly get me in bed and my parents bought a baby monitor so I could call them if I needed anything. Well, I did, and I called them every two hours because I couldn't sleep. I was still on tylenol with codeine. And the doctor gave me one last dose for home, which didn't work by the way, and I was off pain meds by one week post op.

June 13th - ~*Post Op Day 6*~
I spent most of today sitting down and watching TV. I was regaining my appetite but still ate little bites of everything.

June 14th - ~*Post Op Day 7*~
I put on a bra for the first time. It didn't hurt. I thought it was too tight at first but I loosened it. I still couldn't get dressed by myself.

June 15th - ~*Post Op Day 8*~
I learned to sit on a normal toilet seat by myself. Yay, no more cups to pee in...lol...

June 16th - ~*Post Op Day 9*~
Today I learned to logroll of out bed by myself as the nurses didn't show me how at the hospital and I got a bedsore!!!

June 17th - ~*Post Op Day 10*~
I went down the stairs for the first time and I got busted. You could fall and hurt yourself. Ok, mom, it won't happen again. (It did.) Today, I got a shower for the first time. My mom bought this bath bench so I could sit on it at the bathtub and a long showerhead so she could
get water on me. And I washed my hair...ahhh...

June 19th - ~*Post Op Day 12*~
I dressed myself from top to bottom for the first time! Without even bending down.

June 22 - ~*Post Op Day 15*~
Well, I pretty much said everything. These are just my major accomplishments lol. I can sit for hours without getting tired, I barely sleep, and I am always walking around the house. If there was still school, I would be so ready at 2 weeks post op. Too bad there isn't any lol. Feel free to ask any questions. I, myself, amazed at such a speedy recovery because from what I've read it takes at least 4 weeks to feel normal. I was am feeling normal just over 2 weeks post op. I still don't know my fusion as I haven't had my first Post Op Appt. but I know I have a 15 inch. scar, and a 7 degree curve that was 40 before. Thanks for reading!!

[trina]

hi... I know exactely how you're feeling right now I had that feeling about a year and a half ago, I went in for the surgery but it got cancelled when i was already there...so they had to rescheduale and during those three weeks I had serious doubts and didn't want to go through with it...I kept telling me mom that I didn't want to do it..that I didn't need it but believe me sitting here a year and a hlaf later I'm am more than happy that I listened I know its hard to believe now and it does get hard during those first few days but your'e going to be so surprised how fast you recover...it's shocking, I was up and walking in the first week and was swimming three weeks after and I was able to enjoy the rest of my summer... so just be strong and ask the questions you want to...

[sam-xox]

thanks for replying... it makes me feel alot better to think that i will recover really fast. i know in the end it will be worth it but its so scary. now that your post-op... what kinds of activities are you restricted from?? can you do things like hockey and horse-back riding?? also, after my surgery i have to have a 4.5 hour car trip back to my home as my hospital is in another city, if you were me would you take that trip at 6 or 7 days post-op? what do you think? and, at your surgery, did you get the option to have staples?????

[x-becki-x]

hey
i hd surgery just over 6 weeks ago now. i gt bk from my 1st chek up 2day. 4 me, i fort the surgery was fine, its over n dn wit so quickly. i was outa hospital at 10 days (tht is quiet a long time bt it was cos i hd a brace fitted n de brace was wrong so i needed 2 stay longer 4 it 2 b fitted again). the day after i gt home frm hospital i went into skool 2 c my teachers, n de day after that i went bk 2 skool 4 good. 4 dat 1st day i left at lunch cos i was a little tired, bt the day after that i went ful time, n hv dn eva since.

i live on a small island so i hd 2 fly home, i rely wanted 2 go on a private helicopter- that wuda bin so kl, bt the nurses fort i was gd at sittin up so i hd 2 go on a normal aeroplane.

like trina, i started swimmin after 3 weeks, i also signed up 4 a lifesaving award bt my doctor sed its 2 soon, so il hv 2 gv up

apart havin a brace n havin 2 do sm funny exercises the physio says i shud do, i fink im pretty much bk 2 normal. i haven taken painkillers since hospital. the only fing i find a bit painful is sneezin wen i dont hv my brace on. it kinda hurts 1 of my stomach muscles (i hd anterior surgery), that must b 1 of de 1s they cut thro. wen i need 2 sneez i grab hold of de nearest fings near me 2 help stop me frm bendin my bk cos im scared of hurtin it if i do (so far i bin fine wit dat). n also sometimes my scar is a bit itchy, bt cos i hv a brace it means i cant scratch it so i jus start hittin it insted. i did this in class n every1 laughed cos it sounds like im hollow.

At my chek up yesterday, i rely hoped i wudnt hv 2 hv my brace nemore. its not usually painful or uncomfortable bt sometimes it digs into my hips if im wearing particular trousers or shirts. i cant wear most of my clothes cos it shows (it comes up rite ova my boobs). i hv 2 wear another bra ova my brace cos the straps make me flat n hv only 1 small uniboob. that sounds rely funny now bt it rely upset me wen i first got it. i hv 2 wear the brace 4 another 6 weeks it unfair cos i only hv 2 wear it cos my hips r stil wonky, bt my friend katie who was in hospital at de same time as me has normal hips now n she was exactly the same.

b4 my op i 4gt 2 ask bout whether i was havin staples etc. bt i hd dissolvable stitches on the inside of my wound n glue on de outside.