I was shaking like an earthquake, full of fear. Anxiety was building up in me as I waited in the waiting room; in less than thirty minutes “I would wake up differently,” I thought to myself. This is not how I wanted to spend my sixth grade Christmas vacation. I was supposed to be having a fun break off from school, but that didn’t go the way I had planned . . .
  It was a horrible morning because I had to wake up at  4:30 in the morning, switch from the Children's Hospital to Butterworth Hospital because of an emergency surgery, and not being able to get my IV in my arm made my morning even worse. I felt like I was dying when the IV wouldn’t hit a vein. It felt like I got hit in the face with a baseball. Tears swelled up in my brown eyes. I kept thinking that in the next 8 hours I would wake up and have two rods and a 12 inch scar running down my back. My curve reached 45 degrees and my parents forced me into having the operation. December 10th, 2013 was one of the hardest situations I have went through.
I was sitting patiently in the waiting room waiting to go into the operation room. My stomach felt like there were butterflies inside just thinking about my surgery. I was frightened by the fact that I will be operated on.
At 7:00 a.m. in the morning my surgery would start. Doctors kept coming in and out of the plain white room. They were all so sweet and kind. Tears came sliding down my cheeks because I was afraid. The tears almost tasted like salt water. I gently wiped the tears away with my pal hand. My hand squeezed onto a blue tissue box. My mom tried to calm me down with her sweet voice, but I was already sobbing.
“It’s going to be okay Kaitlyn. We won’t let anything happen to you,” my dad acknowledged.
“Nothing is going to be fine!” I screamed.
I looked at the nurses around me, but my eyes were full of tears. The tears blocked my vision. “I hate how all these people keep bothering me and telling me everything's okay when it's not!” I thought to myself. I tried calming myself down. Dr. Cassidy walked threw the door.
“You need to calm down. I promise you everything will be just fine,” he noted.
“I can’t. I don’t want to have the surgery anymore,” I yelled.
I took a gasp of air and then let it out slowly. The heart in my chest felt like it was coming up my throat. My heart was beating as fast as lightning. I could feel sweat rising from my forehead.
“Mom I don’t want to go into the operation by myself,” I mummered.
“I can ask the doctor if I can come in until they put you to sleep,” she replied.
My mom went to go put on her outfit that she had to wear. When she came back into my room she was dressed in blue from her head to toe. It finally hit me that this was no dream anymore, this was reality.
It was now time to go into the operation room. I could hardly keep my eyes open from when I was crying. The next moment I could hear one of the wheels pop from one of the nurses kicking it from under the bed. My body shook from her unlocking the bed. It was officially time for me to have the surgery.
“You’re going to be fine in surgery… I love you,” my dad whispered into my ear.
I flashed him a huge smile. His face didn’t look scared at all. As my mom stood by my side tears swelled up into my eyes again. I kept telling myself that I was a brave person and need to act like one. As the nurses wheeled me down the hallway, all I could think about is how the outcome was going to be. Then was pushed through two large gray doors that lead into the operation room. The room was as cold as a snowy winter night. I could feel the cold air against my body making me shiver. I was looking up at the white ceiling when I felt the bed come to a rest. My eyes glanced around the room slowly. I saw so many medical tools that were placed around the room. My stomach started twisting and turning from the sight. “What if something goes wrong?” I thought to myself as I took a gulp. I was waiting impatiently for the anesthesiologist to come put my IV in my arm. So many emotions were running through my mind that I was squinting my eyes to hold back the tears. My head was pounding as loud as a hamer. It felt like I was having an anxiety attack. “I feel like I could die any moment,” I thought to myself. I squeezed my hand so tight. My head was spinning like clothes inside a washer machine. I could hear the doctors whispering quietly about me. I looked at everyone and they were in blue scrubs. My mind started to drift off into my own world. “It was time,” I thought to myself.
Finally, a tall old man walked through the two large gray doors dressed in a blue scrub. “This man is very scary,” I thought. His black shoes made screeching sound as he walked to my bed which made me cringe. I watched him as he grabbed a black stool and sat next to me.
“I’m so sorry that the nurse couldn’t get your Iv in earlier. I’m here to put your IV in and you will fall asleep instantly. I’m going to have you count down from 10 when I put it in. Do you have any questions?” the anesthesiologist replied.
“I have no questions. I’m just really nervous,” I exclaimed.
We looked each other directly in the eyes. As he turned to get the IV ready I rolled my eyes and looked up at the white ceiling. I was so mad at everything. “Why can’t someone else in my family have scoliosis,” I thought. At this moment so many questions rolled through my mind. I was petrified that I was not going to be the same when I woke up from the surgery. “Dr. Cassidy could find something inside me and have to wait to operate,” I thought frightened. I heard that one girl was sick and they didn’t know that until they opened her back up and had to restart the next day. The thought of that wanted to make me cry. thought I didn’t know how I would feel when I woke up and that’s what I was most scared about. “I have never been put to sleep for eight hours,” I thought to myself. Also, the thought of having two rods and twelve screws in my back made me sick to my stomach. They could break I thought to myself. I also don’t know how I’m supposed to recover for sixth months I thought. I’m not the type of person who can lay low. I could feel my face get all red. I took a deep breath. The tense was building up in my body. My body was as still as a rock sitting on the ground. I looked up and saw the brights clear lights shine down on me. I relaxed my body in the narrow bed. “Am I going to die?” I thought. “Everything should be okay because I have the best Scoliosis doctor in Michigan!” I thought to myself.
“Are you ready for me to put you to sleep?” the anesthesiologist asked.
“I’ll be as ready as I’ll ever be!” I murmured.
“Kaitlyn, I will be right next to you when you wake up. I love you sweetie,” my mother choked.
“Bye” I grunted.
Everything was so irritating. I watched as the anesthesiologist slide the needle into my arm. I could feel the pressure of the needle against my skin. The gray needle looked so thick. I turned to look at the white wall next to me trying to avoid the needle going into me. The needle felt like it was never going to end. It felt like someone giving me a small little pinch which those hurt the most. After my body tingled for a moment, then my vision was starting to fant.
“Countdown from 10,” Dr. Cassidy asked.
“This is it,” I thought to myself. As I started to count down I couldn’t say the words fully. My mom looked me directly in the eyes. I could see her eyes full of tears. She was scared.  Once I got to seven, I could feel my eyes shut. The last sound I heard was the sound off my mom crying. I was sound asleep.
In conclusion, I learned that my situation could have been worse and that I should be grateful. Other children go through harder times and I should take that into consideration. I also didn’t realize that I was very brave. I learned something new about myself. The Dr. Cassidy is one of the best doctors I have ever met. The degree of the curvature changed and went down. I still have Scoliosis and that will never change. In my case, it only affect some of my sports because of my hips being off centered. Scoliosis didn’t affect my daily life. I rarely ever got back aches. I hope I never have to have it again. I look at situations differently. I think of my surgery as something fixable. Other people go through problems where they can’t be fixed. I call myself lucky. I still go through some ups and downs but I overcome them anyways!