In the recovery room
Most patients go to the recovery room after they have surgery. As you are waking up from the anaesthetic, the nurses in the recovery room will be monitoring you constantly. You will be very groggy and may not remember this part.
Once you are settled in the recovery room, your mom and dad will be able to visit you. Your parents may notice that your face is puffy and you may feel that you can’t open your eyes.
Here is what one teen had to say about waking up in the recovery room:
"When I first woke up, I was trying to open my eyes and I couldn’t see anything and I could hardly talk and my mom said ‘Oh, your face is really swollen.’ I wanted to cry."
This puffiness happens because you were lying on your stomach for several hours during the surgery and also because the anaesthetist gave you a lot of intravenous fluids during your surgery. Your puffiness will gradually disappear in a few days.
Every teen who has just gone through spinal surgery is different. Some may be admitted to the intensive care unit or the step-down unit for their first night following surgery and then they are transferred to the floor where they will stay for the rest of their time in hospital. Others may go to their floor directly after surgery. A few teens go directly from the operating room to the intensive care unit.
