Scoliosis Surgery Journey (Part 2)

We came back to Medan and told my sponsor about this. If you read my previous posts, I told you that I met a very kind family who wanted to help my surgery fund. However, the cost was much greater than expected. It was not enough for one party to cover it. I was waiting until August. I kept doing my yoga and the exercises Prof. Kwan asked to do. It was August and I still did not progress anything in raising my fund. I was worried whether I would not get a chance to have surgery. Coincidentally, I had a small chat with one of my schoolmates. I forgot what we started talking about. I just end up sharing about my worry regarding this surgery fund. It was big battle in my mind. My negative thought said that maybe I didn’t deserve to get surgery. There are a lot of people struggled more than me and they might need treatment more than me. The other part of me tried to calm and told myself to keep believing. I am worthy and I would get the chance at the right time. I kept doing all exercises to strenghten my back. I got everything ready as I would have surgery although I still didn’t have enough money. I didn’t care what was going to happen. I just wanted to keep moving, keep trying, and keep believing. I wanted to do my part. What I can’t control, I believe that God will set the best for me.

Those are the exercises I did before my surgery. I did it as many times as possible.

The next day, another of my schoolmate sent me a messages that her father wanted to help me raising funds. My scoliosis story was broadcasted through social media. In short time, my case became the talk of the city. Everyone was wondered what scoliosis is, what the cause is, and so on. I got a lot of calls the whole day asking me the same questions. Some of the kind people visited my house to check my condition. Some people said a bit hurtful things and I had to learn to understand others’ point of view. To be honest, I was exhausted physically and mentally. I kept telling myself I would go through this and everything would be alright. Thanks to my Mom. She was as exhausted as I was but she never complained and still worried about me.

At that time, I also met some fellow scoliosers and the parents. They said that they thought it was ok to ignore the scoliosis until they saw my severe case. They just knew it could worsen like that and asked me the treatment choice available. Some even did not realize that they had scoliosis until they read my case and checked their own body. I willingly told them the details of my story and suggested them to take action as soon as possible for their scoliosis. There are also parents of fellow scoliosers whom children had gone under surgery. They gave support to me and my mom.

Everyone took part to help me. I really mean it, everyone. From my childhood friends, my schoolmates, my uni friends, my lecturers, my students’ parents, my relatives and so many many many else that I couldn’t mention. I was very touched. I shed tears silently as I never thought that they care about me this much. Everyone supported me, telling me that I would make it. Some friends told me that they would mentioned my name in their pray. I could not describe well how heartwarming it was. I was undescribable grateful for everything happened in my life. It was the mid of August. I sent messages to ci Susan and ci Shierly (Prof. Kwan’s PA) that I still could not set the surgery date  since I hadn’t had enough for the surgery fund.

In a week, I didn’t believe that the fund is completely collected. “I REALLY CAN HAVE SURGERY!!!! IT WAS NOT A DREAM” I shouted happily in my mind. My gratitude was really really undescribable. Everyone has worked so hard to accomplish it. I told ci Shierly that miracle happened and I could set the date for my surgery. After some discussion, my surgery date was set on 24th August. It was just a week away. I had to take care of my students and hand it to sub teacher. My mom who accompanied me also had to finish all her work. She is a tailor. We also had our closet raised to sitting one as I would not be able to squad for weeks after surgery. My bed was also raised as I used to sleep with the bed just on the floor. Shower was installed as I would had difficulty bending my back lifting water. I went to bank to transfer the hospital deposit. Our country rules does not allow us to bring cash more than 100 million rupiah abroad. I had my hair cut short so my long hair would not touch my back scar. We did all of that in one week while mom and I were still working. Ci Susan helped me to book a room at Anjung Penyayang for my pre-admission hotel.

On 22nd August, my Mom and I flew to KL. We were nervous, excited and exhausted at the same time. “Everything will be alright, Fera”, I told myself. 

Plus, I also took Bye-bye Fever with me just in case I got fever. A friend told me that she got a fever after surgery. However, I didnt have fever post-op.

Yes I was very very sensitive to every bump after surgery.