Major Trouble - Part 3

13th September (morning)

I got up in the morning and got ready to wait for my niece to come fetch me. She accompanied me to Pantai Cheras. We reached there around 9:40am in the morning and registered at the doctor’s clinic. Initially I thought the doctor was a lady, because the doctor was called “Vivian”, but turns out he’s a nice gentleman.

I walked into his consultation room, and before I even had a chance to sit down, he asked “Why your face bengkak ?”. Sigh…. Then he took a look at the scans and then asked me to sit on a chair while he turned my head this way and that, and prodded at the “lump”.

Then he asked me some questions, “Can you swallow ?” “Is it painful ?” “Can you breathe properly ?” “Has your voice changed in any way ?” to which I answered a resounding “No”.

The doctor started explaining that the “lump” in my face was a tumour, and it was kinda big. He also explained that it will be a major operation, and agreed with the doctor in SMC that it should be performed in large hospitals. The cost, if it’s done in private hospitals may be around RM20-50k, because of the number of doctors involved. If all goes well, the operation will take around 1-2 hours, but if they need to “saw open the jaw, remove the tumour, then putting a plate to hold the jaw back in place !”, the operation may take 5-6 hours.

Apparently it grew probably due to some sort of problem with the nerves. My niece that asked whether it’s a genetic thingy, and the doctor said “No.” Boy, was she relieved ! We were recommended to go to Universiti Malaya (UM) for this sort of operation.