Hi! It’s Esther and I’m a 14 year old girl who lives in New Zealand, and here’s my journey from diagnosis to recovery (which I can’t remember the details very well...)

When I was 12, December 2003, I was walking at the city with my mum following me from behind. I was wearing a halter top and my mum told me that she could see a hump on my back. The thing I remember telling me is “Esther! Your bone is sticking out!” I was like, no there isn’t but she started worrying and panicking. When I got home, my mum rang my GP and set up an appointment.

I don’t remember exactly, but about 3 days after that, I went to see my GP. There my mum told him about the hump and he examined my back. A few minutes later, he diagnosed me with a condition called Scoliosis. I was like what? I couldn’t even say the word and I had never heard of it so I was really confused... He explained a bit more about it and then rang the specialist to set up an appointment.

When I got home, straight away, I went on the internet and searched for information about scoliosis... I actually wasn’t really freaking out then strangely... Just needing to get info on this strange condition I had... I found that www.iscoliosis.com and www.srs.org was helpful for me. Sadly I didn’t find spinekids until months after my surgery...

December 15th 04
I went to my specialist and surgeon, Dr Michael Barnes. Got a X-Ray done and it was confirmed that I had Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis with a 46* degree that day. Before the appointment when I was doing my research, I found that if your curve was 20-30* you would be observed carefully, 30-40* bracing and 40+* you would need surgery. So when I found out that I had a curve of 46*, I immediately thought SURGERY... I asked Dr Barnes if I was right about me needing surgery and he said that he would strongly recommend it. I asked some more questions and afterwards, he told us to go home and to think about it carefully and to come back a month after.

My parents were really horrified and nervous but weirdly I wasn’t. I know this sounds strange, I kind of felt proud that I needed surgery. I had always wanted to stay in hospital before and this was my chance, plus my back pain would go away. This kind of was a dream coming true, well not really lol.

25th February 04
I ended up going back 2 months after the first appointment with Dr Barnes because I was so held up with other stuff. My second appointment was 25th of February 2004. I got another x-ray and we were shocked to see that my curve at increased by 3* in just 2 months. This proved that I hadn’t had scoliosis for too long because my curve was rapidly increasing. I’m the first person in my family to have scoliosis strangely... By then, I had my mind on having surgery so I told him that I wanted surgery so he just told us what would happen, what things we would have to do before then and asked us if we wanted to do it privately or publicly. I decided to do it privately as there would be no waiting list and my insurance company would pay for it anyway. He asked us when we wanted my surgery and I asked for it to be during the next holidays (April 2004) so the date was set to 15th April 2004 for my Posterior Spinal Fusion T5 to L1 with Monarch Instrumentation surgery (very technical name I know).

By then, I had told all my class mates and friends about it and they treated me no different than I was before except they were careful not to hurt my back or anything which was very sweet of them. I laugh at this now but on the last week of term, I gave everyone in my class telling them more about my surgery and if they wanted to visit me, they could ring my friends who I’d ring after surgery on what room I’m in etc... I don’t know why I did that but I just did.

April 8th 04
I went in to get my blood and urine test at the hospital I would be staying in. Urine test was first, had to get some urine into a container which was gross and embarrassing. Then I was taken into a little room where they would take some blood out. The kind nurse looked around for a vein suitable, and she found a thick on my right arm. When the needle went in, it was OK but when she took the blood out, it hurt quite a bit. Pain rating here would be about 3.5/10. Then she bandaged it up and was able to go home.

On the last day of school for the term (I think 9th April), I was given some surprise presents from my friends, classmates and teacher. The class gave me a really cute teddy bear with a tiny little bear wearing a sweater saying Get Well (sooo cute) and a card with everyone’s comments on it.

April 13th 04 - 2 days before my surgery
I went in to get my MRI Scan near the hospital I would be having surgery. I had no idea what was going to happen besides I put be lying in a machine doing something.

When I got there, they got my details and asked me to wait which I did. Then I was called to get changed into a horrible gown then led me to the huge machine. I lay down on the hard sliding mattress and was given earmuffs to minimise the noise from the machine. The machine was so close to me (when I was put in), I was scared that I would suffocate because my nose was only about 5-7cm underneath and top of the machine. It made heck of a lot of noise, and it was soooooooo boring. I think I was half asleep for the last 15 minutes. The whole scan took 45 minutes which isn’t a lot compared to other people’s scans.

No, I didn’t have a pre-op which I don’t think they have here in New Zealand which you and I think is weird...You get measured and weighed and that stuff on the day of the surgery here.

April 14th 04 - Day before surgery
The day before my surgery was a happy one because I had my 13th birthday party since I wouldn’t be able to have it closer to my birthday (27th April). We just stayed at home, played games, had lunch and watched movies. It doesn’t sound much but I was so glad I had fun before I went into my surgery.

April 15th 04 - Surgery Day
I had to be at the hospital by 6.40am, so I woke up at around 5.40 and got ready. I saw my mum, dad and lil brother have their early breakfast but I had to just sit in front of the TV (which was showing infomercials) starving. We left around 6.10am and got to Mercy Hospital (Epsom, Auckland, NZ) at 6.30am. We entered the old hospital in the admissions room. It didn’t look like a hospital. It wasn’t white like I had imagined it would be, it was dark yellow with old stuff on the walls. My family were the only people there and we had to wait in the waiting rooms for about 20 minutes. Finally, a nurse came in to take us to my room. Sadly there isn’t a children’s ward in the hospital so I was taken to the orthopaedic ward in my private/single room which had great views across Auckland.

My surgeon came in at about 7am to talk to me about the procedure and answered our last minute questions. Then at about 7.30am, my anaesthetist came in and talked as well. At about 8am, I had to get changed into a gown and I was laid in my bed. I had to have a disgusting liquid to make me sleepy. It didn't kick straight away. For about 20 minutes, I just laid there my family comforting me by my side. Then at 8.30, 3 nurses came to take me. I said bye to my family except my mum because she was allowed to follow me. I was taken into a room with about 5 more people. I dunno why I went there, but I stayed there for about 20 minutes, then the nurses took me to the operating room. This was when I had to say bye to my mum... ? I was getting really nervous now since I wasn't before... My bed was rolled next to the operating bed and my anaesthetist put the anaesthetic mask on and it really stunk bad. I think it took about 4-8 seconds for me to fall asleep. Of course, I don't remember anything about my surgery...

Rest of 15th April
I remember waking up in the recovery room with nurses talking to patients, machines beeping around me and being very thirsty. Then I realised that my surgery was over. Pain rating here would be around 5/10 since the anaesthetic hadn’t worn off yet. Pain rating here would be around 5/10 since the anaesthetic hadn’t worn off yet. The nurse told me that my surgery had gone well and I was doing well recovering. I was so relieved that there were no complications during surgery. The surgeon later told me that the surgery procedure took 4 hours and 45 minutes. I couldn’t feel much pain because the anaesthesia hadn’t completely worn off yet.

Because I was so thirsty, I asked for some water but the nurse said I couldn’t have any fluids so I was given ice chips instead. They felt sooooo good. I had them throughout my 2 hour stay in the recovery room.

My mum, dad and aunty came into see me about an hour after I had come in to the recovery room. They asked how I was and ladedadeda... Soon afterwards, I was taken back to my room. (No ICU for me) I remember having a lot of ice chips and sleeping for most of the day. Also I found out that my curve had gone from 49* to 10*.

Day 2 16th April
I don’t remember much about this day, just sleeping for most of the day and I could have water but I preferred ice chips. Oh yeah, my mum stayed in my room for the whole stay in hospital. She was given a small portable bed in the corner of my room which was comforting (having her there 24/7). My dad, brother, aunt, uncle and cousin came to visit that day.

Continued...

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