Before I had to get surgery, they had to draw 2 bags of blood at the Red Cross. It wasn't a very fun experience since I was so young. Getting that much blood taken really made me feel sick, and everytime I went there I passed out. Finally the 4th time was over and the next was the "big day".
The day of the surgery was really tough on my parents... I'd never seen them cry that much. I really didn't show any emotion. I guess I was just hoping for the best and didn't want to show that I was so scared, and if I did it might make my parents cry even more and that's not what I wanted. Once they got all the tubes and cords stuck all over me, it was finally time to go in. I couldn't believe that it was time, so many thoughts went through my head: "Would this be the last time I can walk?", "Will I make it through?" and things like that. I showed little emotion that day. 10 hours later, I was finally awake. I had pain all the way through my body. When I woke up, I had about 10 different nurses around me, poking me, and taking things off my body... I was so scared. When I finally saw my parents, it was a big releif since I finally saw the people that loved me the most. The next day, they made me sit up in my bed... that was the worst experience, you couldn't imagin the pain that went through your body. Each day I was in the hospital, I would do a little bit more each day and finally they had me walking down the hall after 5 days in bed and sitting up in my chair. I remember late at night, I would just lay there and cry, wondering what I did to deserve this, why did God pick me. While I was there, I lost 25 lbs. I didn't eat one thing while I was there for 7 days. Everything just tasted awful.
Recovery was a long and slow process. But now 4 years later, I am almost back to my old self. I am sitll very self conscious about my back and don't like wearing certain clothes or even bathing suits because it exposes my back so much. My scar is getting a little lighter, but it will always be there, and it is about 2 feet long. I still get weird looks when I am changing for gym because no one understands what happend or what it is. I am still dealing with som emotion things that I am still trying to overcome. Sometimes I just want to talk to my friends about it, but no matter how well they know me, this is one thing that I am alone in because they just understand how much it still effects me. The only thing that still hurts on my body and where they had to break my ribs to put in my spine, even after 4 years, they are not healed. The doctor said that he cut them wrong so they might never be 100% better. It still hurts when I run for a long period of time. But no matter what I went through, I sitll thank God for everything, and that I can still move. For anyone that has scoliosis, I hope they know that they are not alone and that everything will turn out in the long run!
