Strength in Numbers Surgery was a part of every summer when I was younger. It was never something that I looked forward to, but it was always something that was necessary. The surgery I had in the summer between second and third grade was the hardest that I have had yet, but it helped me realize something very important. I had been dreading that day ever since I found out the year before at my annual appointments that I was going to spend another summer recuperating from a surgery. The last few weeks were the hardest, and I didn’t even want school to get out for the summer that year. Since I had a cleft lip and palate, I needed bone put in my mouth so it would have shape, especially now that my adult teeth were going to start coming in. This required a lengthy surgery with an even lengthier recovery time. Waking up at 4:30 that morning, I knew that day was going …show more content…
to be a long and grueling one. After eating breakfast, I rode over to St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, where I would be staying for a while. We arrived at the hospital after what seemed like too short a time and checked in at the desk. All I could do was wait and hope that my pager to call me back never went off and that they forget all about me. Unfortunately, with the high-pitched peeping of our pager, it was time for me to go back. “Andrew Paulson,” the nurse called as my family and I walked up to the door. “How are you doing today?” she asked, as all nurses do. Looking at the ground, I replied, “Good”, even though I really wasn’t. The menacing doors swallowed me up as I followed the nurse through with my family trailing in behind me. Passing through the bright, austere hallways, it became real that I was going to have surgery that day. I was led to the pre-op room where the anesthesiologist and Dr. Keller, my surgeon, would come and talk to me, and my family and I sat and waited for a while. Finally, they did come, and we went over everything that would happen during my surgery. Then, I was left to wait while the operating room was prepared for my surgery. As with all waiting for something you’re nervous about, I only got more and more anxious as I sat there for two years. Luckily, my family was there waiting with me too, and that made me feel much better even though I was still terrified. When it finally came time for my surgery, they came to bring me back to the operating room, but I really didn’t want to leave. My grandma’s coat was a lifeline as I grasped it as hard as I could. My dad and my grandpa even had to help pull me off. As I was being almost carried to the operating room, I glanced back at my family who had been there with me the entire day so far. I was so scared that I didn’t realize then, but they were the only reason that I had gotten through that morning. Soon enough, I was whisked away to the operating room filled with the bustling people that would perform my surgery in the following minutes.
The smell of disinfectant filled my nose like a foul miasma as the anesthesiologist pressed the mask firmly onto my face, and after counting to ten everything faded away. Cracking my eyes open, I noticed that I was lying in a bed in a hospital room with an IV in each arm. It was about 2:00 in the afternoon and I saw the sunlight streaming through the window in my room. I had just gotten out of almost three hours of surgery. My mom was leaning over me, asking me if I was all right, but my mouth was so swollen and numb that I couldn’t talk. Dr. Keller came in to talk to us and explained that my surgery went very well. After that, I stayed at the hospital for about a week before finally going home. Even though I couldn’t see it then, when I was either afraid or in a lot of pain, my family was the only thing that got me through one of the most difficult times in my life. When the time comes for my next big surgery in May, I know that my family will be by my side then
too.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Everything will be all right.” My doctor was there. That reassured me. I felt that in his presence, nothing serious could happen to me. Every one of his words was healing and every glance of his carried a message of hope. “It will hurt a little,” he said, “but it will pass. Be brave.” (79)
Often times, I continue to have vivid flashbacks of the day my father came home from his first major surgery. I can precisely remember the slim plastic tubes protruding from my father’s neck connected to a small bottle collecting the accumulating drops of blood. I was
One of the last things that surprised me, which is a little more serious is the fact that the doctor could only do one surgery at a time. As a parent, I would be so stressed out over a matter of two days rather than one. Another thing that surprised me about the surgery was the fact that it took them about a yea...
The title of the text is “The Numbers Game”. The story is about a prophecy describing the death of an evil sorcerer by an heir to the kingdom of Khandar. As the sorcerer lay defeated by an heir, a separate candidate heir steps in to claim the sorcerer as his own, and then several more candidate heirs do the same. During their bickering over who gets to kill the sorcerer, the sorcerer sneaks away.
On my hospital bed, I sit and stretch out my arms to relieve some nervous tension. My room is nothing but dull grey walls and the smell of disinfectant. My ears perk up as I listen to doctors and nurses conversing outside. Their voices grow louder and louder as I hear their feet coming closer to my door. I crane my neck towards sounds, only to spot the brass knob of my door turning. My heart begins to race and my breathing becomes shallower. I quickly pull out a pocketknife from under my pillow and slip it into my pants pocket. Stealthily, I roll out of bed, forgetting about the various tubes attached to my body. I wince in pain and tears well up in my eyes as they get yanked ou...
He whispered to me “You’ll be okay, don’t worry about it.” The doctors finally injected the needle in my spine and there it was the pain that was a hundred times worse than getting a regular flu shot. In my head, I was thinking that I hope that i can survive tonight because no matter how terrible the pain is, I’ll make it through this. Well, that midnight I finally got out of the hospital and they told me I had a seizure because of my fever and went home with a juice box and home to go sleep once more and enjoy the rest of my life with my friends and family. The moral of all of this to me was live life to the fullest because you may never know that one day your loved one or yourself can be in a near death experience, so do anything you can to make a
Very young, my dad was in the fifth grade and having an enthusiastic day on the farm when something dreadful happened to him. It was a clear day, and he was very elated. Until he got in an accident on his three wheeler. Clueless, he didn’t know what to do, fear rushed through his body. So he decided to just sit there and wait for someone to come find him. Someone finally found him, and tried to help immediately. Frantically, they rushed him to the hospital, hoping it wasn’t too serious. They got to the hospital and the doctors feared he had a broken neck, and could never walk again. Scared, he had to toughen up. Everything tensed up in the room when the doctors walked in. Luckily, it was only a shattered jaw, but they had to sew his jaw shut. My dad was very stubborn and would do anything to get better. All the doctors were very surprised when he recovered quicker than expected, and everyone in his family was extremely thankful. Everything was getting better and the stars were aligning. My dad took away so much from this event, what he mainly learned was to be very grateful for family, because they will be there for you. As can be seen my dad learned that sometimes you have to fight through the pain and get tougher to overcome your
a. At fifteen, I was being young and reckless like most teenagers are when I got in an ATV accident. I had a compound tibia/fibula fracture that got infected. I spent two weeks in the intensive care unit, and I was told over and over again how lucky I was to still have a leg. Those words gave me a new outlook on life. I realized that life can change in the blink of an eye, and I do not have time to take things for granted. You know how the saying goes, “Live each day like it’s your last.”
She put the first needle in my lip. When she put the needle in my lip I started screaming and crying. She stopped to go get 6 men to hold me down, because I was jumping too hard. After every stitch there was a scream, but the last two I got used to them. She finally was done I was more embarrassed of my face, that I didn’t recognize all the pain. I had 17 stitches in my lip. I couldn’t do nothing but stare in the mirror and touch my lips. My face was ugly and I thought the scares would stay there forever. If you ever look at my face you will never know I got bit by a
Luckily, a few days before my birthday, my cast was removed. This was fortunate for me because I was getting the gift of all birthday gifts. I was getting that bike I had been eyeing for so long.
It was a few weeks before surgery and I had spent a long time of contemplating and imagining all the possibilities. I decided it was not going to be as bad as I was expecting. I thought I would bounce back. Back to the rush of making a basket or the runner's high only experienced after a long
Once we were inside, a strong medicinal odor reached me. Before my parents would even finish filing the paperwork, the doctors rushed me into a room and gave me some medicine to relieve the pain, which had a bitter sour taste to it. While my parents and the doctor were talking about the incident, I began to shiver and get goose bumps from how nervous I got after the doctor said I would need several stitches. The only thing that relieved me a little, was the fact that my parents would be next to me while they stitched my arm up. Well at least I thought they
On my third week of clinical shifts, I was able to spend the day in the operating room watching surgeries. The doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists were all very informative. I was in awe watching the anesthesiologists and surgeons do their work. My mind was going a mile-a-minute as I tried to follow everything that was going on.
During the physical therapy portion of my recovery was the hardest and most challenging part of this event. I had good days and bad days where I just wanted to give up, but the nurses would not let me quit they would push me to walk a little bit more than I had the time before. I was able to make a full recovery and to this day have no issues with my leg or back because of the care and knowledge of the nurses and doctors that took such great care for me in my time of need. The other event that has had a very big impact on my life was on August 24th 2012. My wife came home from her 16 week checkup for our first child, as I was not able to go with her because I had to work that night and I needed to get some sleep before going back to work.
I was in hospital gown for the first time, wondering why it fits so weird and doesn’t cover everything while staring eagerly at the ceiling, still picturing my mothers smile parted from me few minutes ago, I could tell she was worried but wasn’t sure why. Despite being five year old the feeling of fear and trepidation were replaced by ones of curiosity and wonderment. What was going to be done, How it will put and end to my most feared nightmare at the time? Frequent penicillin shots! I was excited and wondered if I get to see my tonsils after removal; I was told there were two of them!