My Operation - 29th April

On my body now, there are :

5 painful needle holes, 3 of which are swollen and 1 blue black

1 painful small hole in the neck

9 stitches in the left face, which is also slightly swollen

A numb left face and ear

AND a left earlobe with no feeling

All these happened because of the tumour that was growing in my face. I finally did the operation to remove it.

Dr. Tang called me on 28th April and told me to go to the clinic first on the 28th before "checking in" to the ward. I packed a Sudoku book (courtesy of Lisa) and a pen, a book, a bottle of water, my mobile phone and also a sweater. Yep, didn't pack a lot coz didn't want to carry everything with me while I walk from 1 place to another !

So, on the morning of 29th, I drove myself to Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) and reached there around 7:50am. After parking my car, I first went to Pharmcare to collect my medication before going to the clinic.

Around 8am, I registered myself and waited for the doctor to call me. After about an hour plus (and about 4 Sudoku puzzles), my number was finally called. Once inside, Dr. Tang took a whole bunch of forms and started filling them. There were really a LOT of forms. I was asked to sign on one of the form. I then asked the doc again what time my operation is scheduled for, and he told me 9am in the morning. Then he asked the nurse to get him something.

The nurse came back with this drip needle which he poke into my left wrist, and he collected about 4 test tubes of blood ! PAINFUL ! Then he put a stopper into the drip needle, which will be used again later. I was then asked to wait outside for someone to take me to the inpatient registration counter, because I have to first pay a deposit of RM500.

All these are located in Menara Utama. Someone then took me to Menara Timur's Ward 7TD to check-in. I waited there for about 15 minutes, then a guy came and put a patient tag on my right wrist. The ward was really cold and I could see that most of the patients and their family members were bundled up in sweaters or windbreakers. After a while, I was taken to Bed 9, where it will be my "home" for the next few days.

The nurse also asked me to change into the hospital gowns. After changing, I took out my sweater to wear, then called my mom and sis to tell them that I've already checked-in. Sis said she can come around 12 noon and asked me what I wanted to eat. She said she can tapau McD or chicken rice for me. I told her not to come so soon because I had to do some tests, and was not sure what time I'd be back at the ward.

The doctor told me that I only have to start fasting from 12 midnite. Around 10:30am, I was taken to do the ECG test and for a chest x-ray. Since I was afraid of losing my mobile and my wallet, I took my bag along with me. Everything was done by around 11:30am.

I was wondering whether I'd be served lunch or whether I had to go buy something to eat. However, at 12pm, lunch was served. I chose rice instead of porridge as I knew after the operation, I will be eating porridge for some time, probably until I get sick of it. For lunch, there was rice, ayam masak merah, pickled vegetables and a slice of watermelon. I ate the rice and chicken only.

After lunch, I started on another Sudoku puzzle. Mid-way through, someone called me to say that the anestatician wants to speak to me. She asked me a few questions, explain about the procedure and also asked me to sign the consent form. I went back to my bed after that and continued on the puzzle.

I looked around at my "neighbours". On my left was an Indian lady. On my right, a Chinese lady, and across me was an empty bed. Next to it was a Malay lady. Later, the Chinese lady was transferred to a room at the back, and a Malay girl was brought in and occupied the empty bed.

Around 2:30pm, I was again called, this time by a doctor who wanted to document my case, since it's rather unique. Yeah, I think I made ENT history by having the biggest tumour in the face / head. He wanted to take some pictures of me, to which I agreed.

I was then asked to stand against the wall, and face front and side for him to take pictures. In my mind, I was thinking, if they had asked me to hold a number plate, I would really look like a criminal ! The doctor then asked me to sit down so that he can take some pictures inside my mouth, because part of the tumour's "bump" can be seen there.

After the pictures, I went back to my bed, and around 3pm, tea was sent. Just as I wanted to start on the Milo, a couple of doctors came, and checked my lump. After these 2 doctors, another 2 came ! Sheesh, the tumour might as well be a superstar, with everyone wanting to see it ! Finally, after they left, I got to drink my Milo, which had already turned cold. Sigh.... I decided to skip the donut because I didn't want my glucose level to rise.

The Chinese lady later came and talked to me, asking what I was in for. I told her about my tumour, and she said that she had been hospitalized for 2 weeks now. She also had 2 tumours removed from her face, but hers was cancerous, and the doctor also removed lymph nodes from around her neck and back to prevent the cancer spread.

She told me that she first found out about the lumps a year ago, when she went to Gleneagles to check them, but was told that they were nothing. However she persisted to checked and finally came to UMMC, who confirmed the lumps were cancerous and had to be removed.

She also told me that the Indian lady on my right had been staying in the hospital for more than a month. Seems that she also had a cancerous lump removed from her face and had to replace the flesh with some flesh from her thigh. Seems that she had been in the ICU for almost a week, but recovered enough to be transferred back to the normal ward.

As we were conversion, Prof Preba arrived with Dr. Tang again to check on me and to tell me that they can't find my MRI and CAT scans ! Prof said that he will try and locate it again, since it's probably misplaced because of the few times I was ALMOST admitted. (once because of my glucose, once I asked for delay and the last time they changed the date).

At 6pm, my dinner arrived. It was rice and chicken in oyster sauce, 2 types of vegetables, an orange, a packet of biscuit and also a packet of Milo. I found out that they actually serve Milo the whole day through, from breakfast, to lunch, to tea and also for dinner. Weird huh ?

Sis came around 7pm with her hubby and Evelyn. She went to my house to collect the other things which I may need to use from ah ma before coming to see me at the ward. She also brought along a mug of hot Bovril for me to drink because I told her it was cold in the ward. It was nice to drink that. Yummy. She also bought a new bottle of Marmite for me, in case I want to make something hot to drink later.

Before she left, I passed her my bag which had my wallet and the clothes I wore when I was admitted, together with the key and parking ticket of my car. I then tried to sleep, thinking that it would be quite easy because I was tired and slept late the night before. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to sleep in a hospital. It's really NOISY ! There's people talking, coughing, moving around, going to the washroom, lights, sounds of equipments, TV sound, etc etc etc.