I stared at the blank white wall in front of me, shaking. I put on the gown and opened the curtain. "Ok, please follow me to the preparation room." I sighed and couldn't stop shaking. "Here's a lock for your valuables. Your parents will have the combination if they need to get in it." I nodded and felt like crying.
You're probably a little bit lost. My name is Katie Pecora and I'm a 16 year old undergoing medical surgery on my scoliosis today. I was having two rods put in my back to make it somewhat straighter and I probably wouldn't be able to have a lot of flexibility in my back again, except for turning and bending a certain way.
You may be thinkng...big whoop! People have surgery every day. Right? Well it's going to be hard because I'm a dancer. Chances are, I'll only be able to do about 75% of the things I can do now after the surgery.
Which won't help, because in two years my heart was set on Julliard. There goes that dream.
I put the lock on the locker and put on the hospital shoes. "Can you wait here until you're called?" the nurse asked me. I nodded in nervousness.
I waited there for at least 20 minutes before I broke down crying. My parents were in the main waiting room, while I was in the patient waiting room. A few minutes later a boy, he was probably my age, came in and sat next to me. We were the only two in the waiting room and it was 4 AM. "Hi..what's wrong?" he asked after listening to me sob for a while.
"Uh..." was all I could say. I didn't really feel like talking. I knew who he was.
"I'm sorry, I'm Joe!" he said smiling. I faintly smiled and shook his hand.
"Katie."
"Well, hi Katie. Why are you crying?" he asked. I sighed and stopped crying.
"I have to go into surgery in a few minutes," I replied.
"For what?"
"Scoliosis. It's probably no big deal. I'm a dancer, so to me it's a big deal," I said.
"Well I think that's a big deal. I'm sorry," he said. I smiled.
"Thanks."
"You have really pretty eyes," he said in a daze.
"Uh, thank you?" I said a little sheepishly.
"I didn't mean to like...be foward."
"No, it's fine...I like your shoes?" I said. He laughed.
"Why thank you."
"So why are you here?" I asked.
"My brother is in the hospital for diabetes. My older brother is in the hospital for pneumonia."
"Oh I'm so sorry!" I said.
"Ha...it's fine. I just took a walk and ended up here. It's pretty quiet compared to upstairs."
"Oh." My stomach grumbled and I sighed. I wasn't allowed to eat anything 24 hours before the surgery.
"Was that a roar?"
"My stomach," I said pointing. We laughed and he smiled. That smile was amazing.
"So how long will you be here?" he asked.
"Six days recovery. How about your brothers?" I asked.
"A few days. Maybe I can visit you!" he said excitedly.
"I'd most definetly like that. No one is going to be visiting me since my friends are in school."
"Then I'll visit you!" I laughed and we were cut short by a nurse walking in.
"Miss Pecora, we're ready for you."
"Bye Joe!" I said waving as I walked away.
He just made my day so much better.
