Taller Not Smaller!

Hi everyone!

Very sorry for not posting in quite a while but to be honest things have been going great with my back and I’m in a lot less pain now I’ve recovered from my operation.

So I thought it would be a good idea to show you a video of what happens when I go to have my MAGEC rods lengthened.  I have to go to have this done every three months as well as x-rays and body surface scanning to track the changes in my curves and monitor my growth.

The lengthening of the rods only takes a couple of minutes and doesn’t hurt, I sometimes think it tickles a bit but that is all! Each time I go the rods are made longer by 3mm, which over a couple of years means they can grow about 4cm.  The rods keep the curve from becoming any worse but allow my back to grow as I do and because this can be done from the outside, I don’t have to have an operation each time.  How great is that?

Below is a video of a recent lengthening and in it you can see how simple it is as I lie down for my doctor, Mr Breakwell, to make my rods longer with the special machine.

Thanks for watching,

Emilia x

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MAGEC Trick

Hi everyone!

I made a quick video of a little trick I can do now I have my rods. When I go to have them lengthened they have to first find the magnets to know where to put the computer. I thought I’d show you how that bit works.

Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for watching!

Emilia x

Top Tips to Cure Hospital Boredom

For my operation I had to stay very still and spend quite a lot of time lying and down this was great because it gave me chance to do some of my favourite things.  Without these things I would have been very bored. So I thought I’d share with you some of the activities I took with me to hospital, just incase you need to go yourself and need some help thinking of what to take!

A Kindle or your Favourite Book

Kindle

Dork Diaries

David Walliam Books

One of the first things I took was my kindle, this was actually a gift for my hospital stay because my Mamma and Granddad know how much I love to read.  You can use a book but if you have a kindle you can use that.  I couldn’t read because the pain medicine made my eyes funny and I couldn’t focus on the words, but the next day  my mum read to me instead.  A book is good for anytime you want to read and you only have to read a few pages, or whatever you feel up to.  I really love the Dork Diaries series or anything by David Walliams or Roald Dhal.

An Mini DVD Player, iPad or Tablet

DVD palyer

Tablets

The next one is an iPad or tablet which you can use to either play games on or watch a movie.  I have Netflix and Now Tv and was able to watch a few things on that or if you have a mini dvd player and some dvd’s, that could be a good idea.  I felt really tired a lot of the time and watching a little bit of a film was a good way to keep me occupied.  There was a tv by the bed but it didn’t work very well but they have lots of films loaded onto them and if they work properly are really good!

Nintendo DS or a different Small Games Console

Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo Switch

Sony Psvita

I took my DS with me and a few games, I did use it a bit but I preferred to watch a dvd or iPad.  I think if I had been in hospital for longer then I would have used it more.  So I think this would be good idea if you know you have a long time to stay in hospital.

Activity or Sticker Books

Top Model Book

Emoji Activity Book

I think that I would have been very bored indeed if I hadn’t taken along my activity books.  When I was starting to feel a bit better and wanted to get out of bed, I couldn’t really do much more than sit out in the chair, and then I could only do a little bit at a time.  I found if I did my activity books then I could sit for longer without getting bored, I really enjoyed doing them in hospital and then at home after I had been discharged.

My favourite ones are the Top Model books, I got them on my holiday in Spain but you can also get them from places like Smyths and Toys R Us.  Any activity book would do, or sticker books – they are great too.

A Diary or a Notepad

I took my Smiggle lockable diary, so I could write about my hospital stay. I think it’s a good idea because you can look back at what you wrote and see how you were feeling at the time. If you don’t have a diary a notepad would do, even if you don’t want to keep a diary you can do some doodles or jot down ideas and thoughts.

Well that’s my top tips to cure your hospital boredom, of course they are just my suggestions and there might be lots of other things that you enjoy doing.  If there is I think the best thing to do is take them with you and see how you feel.

Thanks for reading,

Emilia x

Recovery? Easy Peasy!

I had my operation over four weeks ago now and I’m really starting to feel so much better.  I think the first two weeks were the most painful and I did have to have lots of medicines to help me.  While I was recovering I spent a lot of time lying down and watching movies – I had a summer movie marathon!

I only have to take my medicines when I need them now or at night times to help me be comfortable at bed time. I think the worst thing has been not being able to do too much in my school holidays.  I have drove my mum and dad a bit crazy because I have been quite bored sometimes (Take a look at my Vlog for curing boredom), but I don’t mind being lazy really!

My family think that I look much straighter, and maybe a bit taller too.  I feel like I can sit much straighter and I don’t have any bumps at the bottom of my back anymore because my broken rod has been fixed so that is much better because I don’t knock them and I can finally lean back on chairs or lie down on my back without it hurting too much.  My scars have healed well and aren’t sore anymore, just really itchy!

I have had lots of cards and gifts from family and friends so I would like to say a big thank you to everyone, it was really nice to have treats and it did cheer me up lots.  Thank you to everyone that visited me while I was in hospital or at home, I really enjoyed your visits.

My friend Maja came to visit me at hospital

My Nannie!

My friend Lola came to see me when I got home from Hospital

Two weeks ago I went back to the hospital because it was the MAGEC rod lengthening clinic and my doctor said if I felt up to it I could have my rods lengthened, so I went back and had them lengthened.  I want to film it properly so you can all see what happens when I have this done, so I will do – but you will ave to wait until December!

Back at the clinic at Sheffield Children’s Hospital

Having my x-ray done

My x-rays show that the rods look good and they are now a few millimetres longer than three weeks ago, which means that I am taller!

I went back to school this week, it was great back to normal and seen my best friend at school. It’s hasn’t been too bad and I’ve only had to have pain killers a few times.

Watch out for my post coming soon about my ideas for things to do in hospital.

Thanks for reading!

Emilia x

There’s No Place Like Home

Wednesday 17th August

Yesterday was definitely a long, long day for me. In the morning the pain nurses came to see me and said that it would be best to try and stop using my PCA button and move on the medicine instead. So that’s what I did.

I managed to get out of bed and have a shower which didn’t feel too bad at first!

But by the end my back had really begun to ache and so I felt like I really needed to lie down. The nurse removed the pressure dressing and put some clean dry dressings over my wounds.

Just having a shower really wore me out and I quickly needed to have some rest.

When I woke up I had a little visit from one of my best friends from school which was nice and we sat on my bed and watched movies on the hospital tv.

I also sat out and managed to do some of my activity books. This was good because the physio ladies had said that if I managed to sit out in a chair for an hour then they were happy for me to go home.

It took all day for my medicines to properly work and for me to manage sitting out for long enough but I did eventually manage it. I also had to go and have an X-ray to check that the rods looked ok before I went home too. I went down to X-ray in a wheelchair because it was quite a long walk, I had two X-rays – one from the front and one from the side. Everything looked ok, but we will get to find out how everything is doing again in 8 weeks time when I have to go back and see my dr.

Because I managed to do these two things the nurses said that I could go home and they gave us the medicines to take home with me.

I finally got home last night at about 8 O’clock. I was very tired and in quite a lot of pain because of the journey but felt amazing to be back!

Emilia x