After having back surgery, Keira Sisuphan shares about her journey of recovery and playing sports.
I remember walking into the cold, sterile hospital in October of my sophomore year. It was the day of my long-awaited back surgery to correct scoliosis. I slipped into a thin, itchy blue hospital gown and grip socks.
It was six in the morning, and I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink. I wasn’t scared or nervous — just ready for it to be over. The process was long and tedious: blood pressure checked, heart rate monitored, urine test completed. It took four painful tries to get the IV in, each one a sharp pinch.
Before they put me under anesthesia, my mom asked the nurses to play Norah Jones — the same music she used to play to help me fall asleep as a kid. The surgery lasted eight hours. When I woke up, needles, tubes, wires and machines surrounded me. Despite the heavy medication, the pain was unbearable. I felt weak and tired, wondering what my friends were doing at school or if my dog missed me. Getting out of bed felt impossible.
Each step was small but exhausting, yet I knew I had to push myself to recover. For five long months, my mom cared for me nonstop. I hated feeling like a burden, especially knowing she wasn’t working. Watching her stress over money made me determined to heal faster. Three years later, I pushed through the challenge of returning to sports — using physical therapy, clinics and any resource I could find.