My adventure at the hospital...
One day my Mum and Dad told me that next week I would be going into hospital, this was the second week of the school holidays we have just had. I said to Mum and Dad why am I going to hospital and what for? Mum and Dad said you are going in for a planned operation on your feet and the reason for having it is because your feet need to be corrected as they are curving and arching up and need some help to be straighter.
When it was the day I felt nervous. We went in the car to the hospital early in the morning. We went to the Day Surgery Waiting Room first. When my name was called a nurse showed me where to go and what to do. I had to pop on a special gown and wait for my turn to go to the Theatre. I was on a special hospital bed that goes up and down folding the mattress up like a sandwich so the back part can go up to help you sit and the front part can go up to help my legs to be elevated. My Mum almost fainted when the Anaesthetist came to talk about putting me to sleep. I was second on my surgeon's list, his name is Mr Rao - he is the best orthopaedic surgeon in NZ and he is also a friend of our family's. He is a nice man, he talked me through what was going to happen once I was down in the Theatre. My Dad walked down to Theatre beside my bed with me, Mum stayed in the Waiting Room when I went to Theatre with my grandmother. My Mum doesn't like watching her children being put to sleep. When I got put to sleep my Dad had a few tears, he was upset for me because it was hard watching the doctors give me the special medicine to put me to sleep.
I was in the Theatre for roughly two hours before I went to Recovery. When my operation was finished it was almost lunchtime. Mr Rao phoned my Mum and Dad to tell me that my operation had gone well, that he was happy with what they did and that the Recovery team would phone us when I woke up. When I did wake up I felt a little bit dizzy, my eyes were rolling around, and I tried to keep myself awake.
I stayed in Recovery for over an hour before I was moved to the Children's Ward early in the afternoon. The Children's Ward is a special place at the hospital just for children that need to stay until they are well enough to go home. I felt like I was going to spew when I made it to the room that they had ready for me. Mum thought I didn't look right. The nurses kept on checking on me and giving me some special medicine to help me recover from the anaesthetic,
When I was finally awake I saw a mosaic dinosaur on the wall, this was part of some artwork on the walls to keep the children entertained. Something that made me smile in the room I had was some friends had given me some helium filled balloons which we tied to the end of the bed, it also came with some things to keep me busy while recovering.
My first visitors were my grandparents and Bella, I was pleased to see them and they stayed for a few hours until it was nearly dinner time. Mum and Dad had some takeaways for dinner with me in my hospital room while I had a yummy hospital dinner of mashed carrots, potatoes, chicken and gravy. When you are in the hospital they bring you breakfast, lunch and dinner - it was yummy!
In each of the rooms in the Children's Ward there is a TV mounted on the wall. You can watch regular TV or there are two channels that play children's DVD's. A nurse came in with a whole lot of DVD's and asked me if I would like to choose one to watch. I said yes and the one that I chose was "The Muppets" episodes... below are the words to the theme song:
"It's time to play the music
It's time to light the lights
It's time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight
It's time to put on make up
It's time to dress up right
It's time to raise the curtain on the Muppet Show tonight
Why do we always come here
I guess we'll never know
It's like a kind of torture
To have to watch the show
But now let's get things started
Why don't you get things started
It's time to get things started
On the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, muppetational
This is what we call the Muppet Show"
I cried at night time because it had been such a big day, I've never been in hospital before and I felt overwhelmed by everything. My Mum stayed with me, she got to sleep on a mattress on the floor beside my bed. I watched some TV to calm me down, and my Mum talked to me and let me know it was o.k. to not be feeling that great, that really helped me.
I stayed in the hospital for just one night. The next morning the doctor's come around to see how I was doing. They said that if I wanted to I could go home that day, it was up to me. We ended up staying most of the day and waited until after dinner at night to go home. All the pain relief I had been given was going to wear off that afternoon and Mum wanted to make sure my pain was under control before we went home. At the hospital the nurses taught me about the Pain Scale... 1 was the best place to be, it was o.k. for me to be a 2 or a 3 but I was not allowed to let myself get any more sore than a 3. My pain was managed with Pamol and Ibuprofen. Below is the Pain Scale:
10 SERIOUS PAIN!
9
8
7
6
5 Starting to get hard to manage...
4
3 Highest Pain Level for me!
2
1 Practically no Pain
I was not allowed to put any weight on my feet for the next two weeks until my casts were going to be changed. For me to get around I was going to have to use a wheelchair so I hopped out of my hospital bed and into a wheelchair I was going to borrow and we collected up all of my things and met my Dad out the front of the hospital in our car.
It was nice to be home and in my own bed. It was hard to sleep though because my feet had to be elevated or up in the air for the two weeks as well.
Now that was the story of my adventure at the hospital!
By Reuben Pope
When it was the time I got into my wheel chair and got onto the deck, mum lifted me out of the wheel chair and into the front seat of the car and I had 2 big pillows to support my legs. 
