My name is Thomasina (Sina for short). I am 13 and am in 7th grade. I wear glasses and have brown hair and eyes. I am about normal height for my age. I have tons of cats at my house ( i am not kidding - i have at least 20 cats!) , 3 dogs, and 1 rabbit. I have 2 brothers, age 12 and 10.

Sixth Grade
It was my turn to have my school check-up for scoliosis. ( the school nurse checks for scoliosis)The nurse took a look at my back with one of those back measuring thing. She wrote a note to my mom saying i should have my back checked out. I took the note home and gave it to my mom who read it and called the doctor's office to set up an appointment .

My Dumb Doctor (no offense to other doctors)
Well I went in to the doctors and waited for the nurse to call my name. When they did we went back into the rooms and waited for the doctor there. When she came in she looked at my back (With NO measuring thing or any thing just eyes), and said nothing was wrong.

Seventh Grade Physical
My mom had noticed that my back was looking a little weird and curvy. So she made my doctor look at my back. The doctor looked and then scheduled me for x-rays. They measured the curve on the x-rays and the top was 41 degrees and the bottom was 20 degrees. They sent us to St. Cloud. (about a 50 minutes from my house. )

St. Cloud
Another doctor looked at my back and told me what scoliosis was and how you get it and all that. I knew most of this stuff so I wasn't listening -- I was thinking about what the doctors looked like. They looked like some scientists . There hair was all greased down with like a pound of gel and the had long doctor coats on, so I was trying so hard not to laugh! They said they weren't good enough to tell me if I was going to have surgery or a brace so they sent me to the Twin Cities Spine Center.

Finding out: Surgery or the Brace
We drove the 2 and 1/2 hour drive there and found the the Twin Cities Spine Center. It was HUGE!! There was tons of different places in it . There was even a McDonalds! It was very cool to me, living in a small town and going to a HUGE place. We were going up to the 3rd floor to a place called Abbott. We got there and the doctor told me to go in . They did some x-rays and asked some questions. It turned out that my curves had gotten worse . The top was now like 49 degrees and the bottom was 23 degrees. They said the best chance is having surgery. I felt like crying ,but didn't . (i haven't cried at all yet) We decide the best time to have my surgery was Feb. 17th 2004.

Now
The days have been going by fast , that was back in December and now it is February. I will update you all after my surgery. I am going to write a diary when i am in there and have my mom take pictures , before, after and during the days when I am in there and when I get out then i am going to post them up here.

The day of surgery
I had to be at the pre-operative care center at 11 AM. My surgery was to start at 1 PM. My nurse talked with me and my mom about what to expect before, during, and after surgery. The nurse put a name tag on my wrist and also put tag name things on my luggage. She talked to me about pain medicine and control. They used a pain scale from 1 to 10, for rating your pain -- the nurse said they do this to keep you comfortable.

Other people started coming in -- they were the ones that were going to be in the operating room with me. The operating room nurses came in and another person came in and hooked me up to an IV. The anesthesiologist came in and talked to us. He looked at my little finger and said it was the same size as your wind pipe. He said he wanted to check the size cause when you are asleep they put a tube in you to help you breath during your operation.

After that the spine fellow came in. This is the doctor that in learning to specialize in orthopedics.

Also a neurophysiologist came in. She explained how they would monitor brain and spinal cord reaction to stimulate during surgery. This is to make sure you're not going to get paralyzed.

Finally, my Dr came in -- Dr. Perra came in and answered any final questions I had. Then the anesthesiologist came in and gave me something to relax me in my IV. I call it happy juice , cause it makes you all happy and weird. it made me really weird cause there was this bar on the wall and i kept saying it was bowing down at me cause it really looked like it was. My parents thought i was crazy. A bit later they wheeled me away to surgery . My mom and dad got to walk part of the way. i was giggling as they wheeled me away my mom said.

The surgery took just over 3 hrs. After my surgery they took me to the recovery room, where they monitor your heart and breathing real close as the anesthesia wears off. About 7:30 that night they took me up to my room. The nurses in the spine / orthopedic unit work with people who have back surgery all the time, so they know all the tricks to keeping you comfortable.

They let my mom sleep in my room on a roll-away bed, so I didn't have to be lonely and cause I was under 18.

The next 2 days are kind of blurry. i was hooked up to a pain pump and I turned out to be allergic to the medicine in it. I puked and I got hives till they took me off of it. The only thing they let you have till your stomach wakes up is ice chips. I got a blood transfusion and I didn't even feel it cause they did it through an IV. Also my pain was below a 4 the whole time I was there. (they used a scale 1 - 10 -- 10 being worst and 1 being no pain at all.). On the 3rd day, I finally got Jell-O and clear liquids. I was in the hospital for 6 days. The nurses helped me walk around and they helped me on stairs. The therapist didn't really do anything except talk to me. On the 6th day, I got to go home.

One Week After Surgery
Since the medicine I was on for pain made me sick, I took myself off of it and had my mom give me Tylenol instead.

I slept a lot the first 2 weeks.

One Month Later
I am getting bored staying home and wish I was in school (even though me and my mom do go shopping!

I am also getting annoyed cause i can't go and play outside unless my mom is watching cause she thinks i am going to fall but oh well!!!!!!!

Tips & Tricks
  When you are in the hospital braid your hair.
  Sleep with ice packs on the first week or so it helps a lot!!!!
  Get 3 or 4 pillows for the car ride home and to sleep with.
  When you get home and want to take a shower and can't get you back wet -- smear a bead of Vaseline around you back, and put plastic (saran) wrap around it . The water will not seep in and it sticks good too, but feels weird.

You can find SinaLee on the SpineKIDS Message Boards.