Having Scoliosis + Spinal Fusion Surgery

Post Surgery in Hospital

My next memory as I woke up was hearing a lady named Christine introduce herself, explain what had happened and tell me that I had a button to press to release morphine.

I then proceeded to call "Christine, CHRISTINE get me the morphine. I can't press the button I'm too weak you need to do it" repeatedly. I never saw her face and I never spoke to her again. I wish I had. I'll always remember that moment.

I was taken into intensive care for a few days so I could be closely monitored. The lighting was dim and my mum and dad sat next to me the entire time. Morphine made me vomit constantly which is the worst thing when your body is so sore. I had a nurse named Laura who took one night shift with me and I still remember her even now! She put me on a paracetamol drip which was heaven on earth. No sickness just good ol' pain relief - you can't beat trusty paracetamol.

The room was big, with high ceilings- like an old hospital ward. After a couple of days (which I cannot recall) they wanted to get me back to the regular ward but because I couldn't eat anything due to sickness I had to stay.

You have a catheter fitted which is a tube connected to your bladder which drains any urine because obviously you can't get up for a while. This sounds painful, but you can't feel it! Think of it like having a tampon in, you just don't think about it. It was such a chore having to get up to go to the toilet again without it! Having it removed is fine also, just a quick tug and you're done.

I had an intravenous cannula in my hand as I was on a morphine drip and it provides easy access for other medicines like anti sickness. This isn't painful, slightly strange but not painful, because it's fitted whilst your under anaesthetic.

I had a chest drain fitted, which is only for anterior fusions, therefore I had no idea I'd have it or what it was like. It collected blood and yellow crap around my lungs to help with my breathing. This was the worst part of it all. It kept getting twisted and would stop working so they'd have to yank it about inside me which makes me cringe even now. This isn't needed for posterior fusion.

One Sunday afternoon it stopped collecting fluid so they needed to call the emergency radiographer to take an x-ray in order to figure out what was wrong. We waited, and waited, and waited! For at least 5 hours, which was clearly unacceptable because I needed this x-ray ASAP. So at 8pm he finally rocked up. Well I tell you when I got down there I let rip! "Where do you think you've been? You're meant to be on call. I've been waiting hours. This was an emergency." - coming from a girl who can't even sit up, let alone be menacing. But he was scared. He didn't say much, just looked a bit sheepish. Only later did I find out after he'd gone that he wasn't the on call radiographer at all! He had come in just to x-ray me because the original man still wasn't answering! How embarrassing. Poor guy.

My day nurses were lovely. I had a student nurse, Lisa, who saw me each day and just brightened my mood; and various other lovely ladies who were so bubbly and upbeat you couldn't help but stop feeling sorry for yourself!

You lose all sense of embarrassment when you're in that situation. Please believe me. Having people you get to know wash you in bed and change your underwear and sort out your period mess is nothing! You just don't care. At all. You think you will, but you don't. I'm the worst person ever for that and it's honestly fine. Don't worry about it.

I ended up having to stay in hospital for nearly 2 weeks. A tad longer than our expected 5 days. We didn't know if we'd be home for Christmas!

The biggest delay was the fact that I couldn't keep any food or liquids down due to vomiting, meaning I was very weak. I ended up having to speak to a dietician and she put me on high calorie milkshakes to build me up.

You have to pass a stool before you can leave and after well over a week I was pretty damn constipated. TMI I know, but it happened and it's common. I tried and tried, taking laxatives daily, but due to no real food and minimal liquid it just wasn't happening. It got to the point where I had to have an enema, now if you don't know what that is, you don't want to. Basically they insert a syringe into your bum and push the liquid enema in. You then have to hold this liquid in for as long as possible- at least 30 minutes. When you release it should bring other stuff with it. Now I'm not going to sugar coat it, but this is rarely needed and it shows that you must eat and drink! It was awful. Truly awful. I barely managed to hold it for 5 minutes! I said to my mum that it felt like I was giving birth it was that painful, and guess what? It didn't help. Joy. But it came eventually, when it was ready. So give it time.

I vomited a lot, so anti sickness medication was a regular. It wasn't pleasant, but you don't get much choice and it's only throwing up! You can cope.

It was rough. Laying in bed 24/7 with a very achy back is poop. You have to be rolled onto a different side every few hours to avoid bed sores and too much strain, but I'd get so uncomfortable I'd want to be rolled constantly and that wasn't really allowed.

Sleeping was the hardest part. Night staff were usually agency workers so they weren't the friendliest or most understanding but what can you do? And sometimes my mum or dad wouldn't be there so I felt alone and almost powerless. You'll just manage to doze off when you're woken up to have your blood pressure and temperature taken! Thanks.

But for the most part it's bearable! Well you'll have to deal with it because you don't have much choice, but I promise it's manageable.

Most people are in and out within a week, I'd watch them arrive and leave and that short stay would have been easy as pie!

Now onto learning to walk again.