Post Surgery: Hospital Experience

Waking up from scoliosis surgery

When I woke up from my scoliosis surgery I remember feeling no pain, I felt as light as air (thank god for morphine!) and I actually remember thinking ‘I’ve had hangovers worse than this.’


I was in ICU, (intensive care unit) I had tubes all over me and was attached to several machines that were monitoring my heart rate, blood pressure etc so I could hear these beeping. I could also hear nurses talking at the other end of the room and I remember wondering at one point if I’d even had the surgery.


I also remember feeling very itchy, I was constantly scratching my chest which the nurse said was a side effect from the morphine and gave me some piritin to help. I also had a really dry mouth so they gave me some water, I did ask for some toast but a nurse said that as my bowels hadn’t “woken up” properly from the anaesthetic that I wasn’t allowed any toast right away.


I had no sense of time in ICU and it is all a bit of a blur, I kept falling asleep and waking up hours later and I didn’t know what day it was. I also had double vision which I was told was from the meds. I could see (two!) clocks on the wall so I knew time had past but it just felt surreal.

I remember speaking to my dad on the phone just hours after the surgery, apparantly he had rang ICU before he went to bed to see how I was and they let him speak to me. I can’t remember what I said or if I even made any sense and after I fell asleep and woke again I felt confused and kept thinking that I’d dreamt the whole converstation.


My boyfriend said that he had seen me as they were initially waking me up from surgery but I don’t remember this.  He said that I looked like I was in pain and it really upset him seeing me like that and that he went home not knowing if I was ok or not but I honestly don’t remember. I only remember waking up in the ICU after my family had all gone home for the night wondering if I’d even had the surgery.

The next few days were a blur passed by so quickly. I was in and out of conciousness and struggled to speak to my family when they visited because I just couldnt keep my eyes open because of all the drugs I was on. I think it was a bit much for my family to see me like that as my mum and boyfriend had to leave to room a few times as they felt faint. 

At the time I couldn’t understand why as I felt fine in myself, just tired. I dread to think what I looked like to them though with all those machines and wires attached to me. In a way it felt like it was happening to someone else.

The ward post surgery

Content to follow…my experience of scoliosis surgery and the immediate post op period in hospital.