Recently, I had a major back surgery. Can you believe I have a metal rod in my back? This was my sixth surgery in all, and my fourth back surgery. It can be scary at times and I always dread the pain I feel afterwards. From my experiences, I know the pain eventually goes away. Luckily, I had my mom, dad, aunt and my brother to comfort me.
Before surgery we had to go into a pre-operation room. This is where they take blood work, vital signs and discuss all the last-minute details. The anesthesiologist and the orthopedic surgeon came in to talk with us too. My mom and dad asked them both a lot of questions. They asked how long the surgery would take and what to expect. The nurse came in and gave me some medicine in my feeding tube and that made me kind of dizzy and I started to feel tired all of a sudden. My mom said that I was talking to them and after five minutes I fell asleep as if I just fainted or something.
When it was time for surgery, the nurses rolled my hospital bed down the halls. I opened my eyes but was still a bit dizzy. We were at those big wide double doors of the operating room. I heard my mom say, “I love you sweetheart” and my brother said, “You got this bro.” I was looking for my dad but he wasn’t there. I started to get anxious. My mom said he went back to the pre-op room to get my ventilator machine just in case I needed it in the recovery room after surgery. At that moment, all I cared about was that my dad was there next to me. In an instant, I started crying really hard. I asked the nurses to please wait for my dad to come back before going through the doors. My brother ran to get him and in two minutes he came back with my dad. He means everything to me. My dad can talk to me like no one else can. He has a soothing voice that always calms and makes me feel protected. I was now ready to enter those big double doors to the operating room. That’s the last thing I remember until I woke up from surgery in the recovery room.
When you enter the recovery room, you are in this room for about an hour to be closely monitored. The good thing about surgery is that you don’t remember anything that happened and the problem you had before is now fixed for the most part. I was wondering where my IV was because it was not in my hand. They put the IV in my foot this time. My mom told me it’s easier to put it in a kid’s foot then in the arm but then I had another question. Why did they put it in my arm all those other times? Oh well. I wasn’t really awake for a long time. I kept falling asleep because the medicine they gave me for the surgery was still wearing off so I kept falling asleep.
I couldn’t eat anything by mouth for a day. This was my aunt’s first time at the hospital with me so she didn’t realize that I wouldn’t be able to eat right away. After they came back in the room my aunt got some pizza and then ate it all in front of me. I told her to stop because it’s not funny and she kept saying, “it is funny because you can’t eat and I can!” Everyone was laughing. I said why are you laughing this is not funny. She told me to give her a ticket since I’m a police officer and I said you better be glad you’re my aunt or else you would have gotten five tickets. But, don’t worry because I’m going to get her back when I get well enough.
The next day, the doctor came in and said I could eat now but I wasn’t hungry. I was still really tired for some reason. My mom kept trying to get me to eat but I kept telling her I was not hungry until I realized she bought me my favorite food which is sushi. I tore that sushi up!
Finally, after being in the hospital for days, I was able to go home. I was not happy about leaving the hospital because I get scared when people had to pick me up after having back surgery. I was trying to convince the doctors to allow me to stay longer because I didn’t want to get out the bed and the pain was bad. I still don’t feel good, but my mom wanted me to get out of the hospital because she says there’s a lot of sick people there and she didn’t want me to get sick or an infection.
When I got home, everybody was at my house! They all jumped out and yelled “surprise!” There was a bunch of balloons and I received presents.
If you’re reading this Doctor Davito, you did a good job with the surgery on my back. Thank you! Even though it still hurts, it’s better than it was before and now I’m taller.
About Morgan: Morgan Steward is an honorary police officer for the Covington Georgia Police Department. He lives with his mother, father and two siblings. He is an active member in his community and enjoys helping others. Click here to learn more about Morgan.