It all started when I was 16 just after my GCSE’s. I was out shopping with my mum where I was trying on a skirt. She noticed an odd shape when telling me to stand up straight which I thought I was. We then compared my sister Lauren and I together and Lauren seemed to be straighter than me.

The next thing we did was go to the local doctor who transferred us to The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital on Bolsover Street in London. I had to go for lots of x-rays and photos of my back, we then got the results of these x-rays and he said I had Idiopathic Scoliosis. At first I’d never heard of it so I didn’t know anything about it. (Scoliosis is when an abnormal curve of the spine tends to curve from side to side. It can be overlooked in young children and teenagers).

In March 2004, I went to the Stanmore hospital for an MRI scan of my whole spine. We then went back up to Bolsover Street for a follow up of that, that was when I was told that I have a curve of 55° and therefore would need surgery to correct this. If I didn’t have the surgery then the curve would just grow bigger as I got older. But with months of complications with the surgeon and the hospital I finally decided to just get on and do it in January 2005.

I was admitted to The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore – Middlesex on the 8th of February 2005. We found my ward (Ian Monroe Ward) and I was shown my room, I went private and so therefore I had my own room (4) which I preferred. It looked quite depressing at first and I thought can I go home now. We got settled in and the first thing that the nurse said was ‘I need some blood from you’ which put me right off and plus I hate needles.

The sister Claire (my favourite nurse) came in with a cardboard bowl along with a needle and syringes with a huge looking plaster. I had to uncover my right arm and wait while she tried to find a vein. This was quite hard as apparently I have very small arms with tiny veins. Claire did go in with a needle but nothing came out, and it hurt so much they had to stop and try it again later. Some ‘magic cream’ was rubbed onto my arm covered by a plaster so that when they tried later on I wouldn’t feel it as it numbs your arm.

At about 6pm, my mum and I had our dinner bought to us as mum was staying with me in my room for that night and so dad and my brother Nathan went back to Crowborough as he has to work late, but is coming back up early in the morning.

After dinner more people came to see me including: Claire the physiotherapist who took my lung volume with a spirometer and also checked my height and weight, anaesthetist came about what happens in the operating theatre and the registrar who did my blood test again – it took a while, but this time it was in my left arm and got a result, it hurt a bit but not as much as before as with the magic cream. The surgeon then came to see me, where my mum and I had to sign the agreement form for them to go ahead with the operation.

No one else came in until the morning apart from the ward nurses. So for the rest of the evening we watched the TV, did some knitting and I also rang my friend Chris for a while. I was also told to have a shower as it saves time getting up and doing it in the morning. Before we went to bed we went down to have a look at and meet some of the staff in IDU the intensive care unit, which is where I will go after the operation.

We then went and sorted our beds out and I made sure I had my last drink and biscuits before midnight as after then I couldn’t eat anything.

Wednesday 9th February 2005
We were woken up about 8am, when my mum’s breakfast arrived and I had to change into my hospital gown, cool knickers and stockings (flight socks). I then went back to bed while mum ate her breakfast (lucky) as by then I was ‘Nil by mouth’ so not allowed to eat or drink anything.

About 9am my dad arrived back up and then at 9.30 the porters had come to get me and take me to theatre – this was horrible and it got worse as I was taken down the corridor, I was really emotional and scared. I remember then being in the entrance of theatre and only one parent was allowed to come from there, which was my mum. They put this mask on me and that’s all I remember until I slightly came round in the recovery room but then I fully came round in intensive care. I had all these wires and tubes going into my hands and my back, a pulse monitor on my finger and all the needles for the drips in my right arm. Along with a chest drain to drain all the fluid from the operation and an Epidural going into my spine to help with the pain.

I think I was still quite sleepy after the operation, so I do not remember much from then.

The operation itself took 7 hours and when I was in the entrance to the operating theatre they put the mask on and gassed me so that I was half out of it then, they then put in the anaesthetic and told me to count back from 100 – I don’t even memorise this bit this is what my mum told me, but in my experience it was only about 2 seconds.

Thursday 10th February 2005
I woke up in intensive care, I tried having some dry toast but didn’t really feel like eating, dad offered to go and buy me McDonalds but I had to say no I really didn’t fancy that yet.

My parents came up early and told me that they’d come from the ward and they were all expecting me to come back in the afternoon.

The Occupational therapist came to see me and gave me a small lung volume machine to blow into to help my lungs- but it didn’t seem to be moving up the meter- it did it a few times but not all the time. That’s when the anaesthetist (that I do not like) came in, and started acting as a doctor in charge- I didn’t know they could do that. First they looked at the chest drain to see if the fluid had drained, but they couldn’t tell so I’d need an x-ray. The two x-ray people came in when the intensive care staff were on changeover so there was no one around and they didn’t want to wait. So they went ahead and did it themselves not thinking about I’d been through, they turned, lifted and pulled me around- it was so painful, I was in a lot of pain and quiet upset afterwards. The staff and the anaesthetist eventually came back with the x-rays and said they can see some light patches, so they were going to get the ultra sound people down. They arrived when my parents had gone to lunch and I remember them getting their equipment out but I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up I was in a lot of pain with loads of people around me moving around. I was on my side and they were putting in a couple of stitches in my back from where they had taken the chest drain out. My dad then told me I was moving- I thought ‘what? Why?’ I was moved (not far) still in intensive care but in a higher dependency unit (one to one), they sorted out all their machines, then out came this heavy looking oxygen mask called a Nebulizer. They put it over my mouth and nose and told me to take deep breaths; it was horrible quite claustrophobic – the physiotherapist Claire (my other favourite person) said I could have a break in a little while if I kept breathing in. It turns out my lung had collapsed as it was squashed during surgery and hadn’t fully inflated, so wearing this mask would help with that, therefore I had to be moved into this unit. My parents were meant to go back home that night but because of all this happening and so they both camped out in my room on the other ward.

I didn’t sleep very well that night because of wearing the mask, plus I didn’t like the nurses on the night shift as they wouldn’t let me have a break.

Friday 11th February 2005
My parents were in early that morning, I tried having breakfast again but not much. The morning staff took the mask off for a while, and instead put a nazzle tube round my nose allowing the oxygen to still get in. The physio’s bought me in this special machine (birding). I had to take a deep breath and blow 20 times to also help with my lungs. I wasn’t pleased when the mask had to go back on- by now because of the mask being so heavy it was bringing on panic attacks and making me feel ill, although the ill bit could be from the anaesthetic. Mum and dad went to a hotel that night, and I had the same night staff as the previous night so I wasn’t happy and I kept having these panic attacks through the night, so this nurse called Angel took it off and put on a smaller plastic one which was a bit better and I got some sleep.

Saturday 12th February 2005
I had a nice English Australian nurse on today; I also had post yey, lots of nice cards from my friends from school.

The surgeon came in today briefly to speak to my parents and how I was. (We never saw him again) I had to do my birding and was given all my painkillers through my drip. I don’t remember much through the day. My parents went to a hotel again, and before they did I was reading a magazine and then was in a lot of pain and had to have painkillers to stop it- it was quite late then and so the staff changed and the mask went back on.

Sunday 13th February 2005
The Australian nurse was on again today, I had some breakfast and a drink. Mum and Dad were back about 10am and I looked a bit happier. I also had a parcel – it was a balloon and a card from some people I met through the internet whose daughter Becca had the same thing as me in the same hospital a couple of years before, so that cheered me up.

After lunch, I was allowed to move back into the normal intensive care as my lung volume was better than it was. My parents had bought me a small TV up from home which one of the nurses recommended once they had checked it and it was fine, so it was nice to watch a bit of television. For tea I had some soup which mum helped me with. I also had to do the birding again every hour and when I wore the mask again, but the mask had now been changed to a lighter one as I had been having a lot of panic attacks with the other one.

Mum made me a deal that if I hit 100 on the volume reading, my dad would give me £5 and I did it once that day. I tried going to sleep in a normal oxygen mask, but my levels were dropping slightly so this other nurse had to change it back to the nebulizer – I was not impressed.

Continued...