So I got my towel and took a bath. After I finished, I didn't have much to do, so I started on the Sudoku puzzles again. Around 6:30am, the nurse came by and started to put me on a drip, and also asked me to take my hypertension pills with just enough water to swallow them.
Sis arrived with Ade and Evelyn at 7:00am to give me moral support and because they were afraid that I'd be afraid. Bro sms sis to tell her that if the docs can't find my MRI and CAT scans, I should not go ahead with the operation. So sis asked me to call the doc to see if he had found the scans. Unfortunately, seems that he was still asleep, and he questioned why I called him up so early, and that he hasn't found the scans yet. I quickly said sorry for waking him up and hung up. Sigh......
I told sis what the Prof said, and she asked me whether I wanted to go ahead with the op or to wait and do another scan first. Ade said I should heed Nike slogan and "Just Do It". I told sis I had already made all the necessary arrangements, and that I don't want to defer it any longer.
At 9:10am, a nurse came by and ran through a pre-op checklist with me. While doing that, the Prof came to the ward to do his rounds and was surprised to see me still there. He asked me why I was still there and I told him the nurse was doing the checklist. Sis then proceeded to ask him about the scans again, and he said "I'm the doctor, and I'm not worried, so why are you worried ? It's all in here", pointing to his head.
Then he left. Another nurse brought in the OT transport bed. It was high up and I was wondering how I was supposed to get onto it. The answer came when a nurse placed a chair next to it and asked me to climb up into it ! I was then asked to lie down and was taken from the ward to the OT.
It's a weird feeling, a bit like what you see on TV in medical dramasa when the ceiling lights passes by in front of your eyes. Of course in TV dramas, they don't run into bumps and corners like in reality. Finally I reach the OT entrance, and I heard sis and my nieces saying, "Bye, see you when you come out later".
A glass door opened and I was wheeled inside. Since I had to take off my glasses, I can't really see clearly but I knew I passed by a lot of corridors. Then we reached another glass door, but the "bed" in front of me had problem negotiating through, so there was a bit of "traffic jam" before I was wheeled through it as well.
I was then sent to a "parking" area, where the nurses did a final check before proceeding into the OT. An old lady was "parked" next to me, and she was complaining to the nurse that her drip needle hurts. I also heard some doctors talking about "Wah, yesterday's operation was soooo bloody. You didn't see meh ?" "Very bloody meh ?" "VEERRRRYYY bloody....." Great. Just what I need to hear.
After a while, I was wheeled into OT room 13. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 9:35am. Waiting there was boring with nothing to do and I can't sit up, so much so that I was actually feeling sleepy !
Now, I think everyone thought that I felt anxious or doubtful or even afraid of the op, but to tell you truthfully, I was actually feeling quite calm and did not doubt that I will go ahead with the op, even when I was told that the scans were lost.
A little later, a nurse came in to do a final final check. I asked her what time my operation will be. She said that I was supposed to be the last case, but because the little boy ahead of me had fever and can't go on with his operation, mine is now pushed up as the 2nd case. However, there is now an emergency where an old man can't breathe, and they are helping him.
No wonder I kept hearing the machine with the heart beat beeping. Some time later, I heard one of the nurses calling the man a few times, "Uncle, uncle, can you hear me uncle ?" Then I heard the bed being wheeled out, and the "clink clank" of things being rearranged.
At 10:20am, I was wheeled into the OT. They placed me next to the OT bed and asked me to move myself to the OT table. I thought it would have been a steel and cold one, but it was not. Maybe for ENT operations, the tables are slightly different ?
One of the doctors placed something under my head, then they placed something which they called "sandbags" under my shoulders. The nurse placed an oxygen mask over my nose and mouth, and asked me to "breathe in, breathe out". Then she had to fix something and passed the mask to another nurse, but the 2nd one didn't know how to hold it properly, there's a big gap where air was escaping, and the mask was now touching my eye !
I had to tap her hand and point to my eye to let her know it's poking me ! Then the 1st nurse took the mask back, berated her for holding it wrongly, then placed it properly again over my nose and mouth. After breathing in a few more times, I was in la-la land.
By the time I was concious again, I was back at the "parking area" and there was a warm feeling above me, like being under the sunlight. I can hear some people talking, and a baby kept crying. I ventured to open my eyes and saw that above me, there was something that gave off the warmth that I was feeling. Next to me was some nurses hunched over another bed and warmer similar to mine, but some how the baby kept crying and they were trying to console it. I heard someone mention "12:30 lor..." then dozed off again.
I kept dozing off and waking up repeatedly, and also kept hearing the baby crying next to me. After a while, I heard someone say "1:30...." Dunno what's wrong with the poor baby, crying non-stop. The nurses were saying "Sayang.... dah dah..... kesian....."
Later, someone told me that they will be sending me back to the ward. I was wondering, "Huh ? No need to go ICU meh ? Can straight away go back to ward ?" Soon, someone removed the warmer overhead and starts pushing the bed. I dozed off again, until I heard someone say "Can you move your legs ? Slowly... now move your body...." and I was back in Bed 9 of the ward. Because the OT bed is higher, I just had to "drop" myself to the lower bed.
I listened to the chattering around me for a while but not really registering anything. I closed my eyes to rest for a while. I was wondering where my sis and nieces went, then thought they probably went off for lunch. I wondered whether my facial nerves were ok, so I tried to smile and also tried frown. Seems ok......
However, I soon heard their voices, and they were asking "Dunno Ah Yee out from OT yet or not ? Go and take a look lar..." Then, "SHE OUT D SHE OUT D !" "Gasp ! She still look pretty wor !" I thought to myself, "Huh ? Pretty ? What does she mean ?" I heard a nurse tell them I just came back. I opened my eyes and tried to look at them, but without glasses, everything looks blurr. Can make out Ade though. She was already flipping out her mobile and calling somebody. "Ah Yee out d.. and she still looks PRETTY"
Again I thought, "Huh ? Me still pretty ? Why ? Expect me to become very ugly meh ?" Then they saw that I was awake, and asked me whether I'm ok. Sis asked me to try and speak. I answered her "Oklar..". Then she asked whether it's painful or not, and I shook my head a bit. I don't know whether she started speaking to Ade or whether she was talking on her mobile, but I touched her hand and showed her I can smile also.
I can hear the wonder and happiness in her voice when she told someone "She can smile ! Ah Yee smiled !" Then I drop off to slumber again. After dunno how long, I can feel sis touching my left face and left ear, asking me whether I can feel or not. Ade or Evelyn told her to stop doing that and let me sleep. I opened my eyes again, and told her I can feel, but it's numb. They asked me whether I want to sit up for a while, but I told them no. Then they asked me a few questions, which I answered.
Told them a bit about the operation time, and when I came out, and how I got back into the bed, etc etc. Then the Prof came by and said that everything looks ok, and that I should start eating afterwards. He also casually told sis that the whole operation only took 45 minutes ! Seems that he had to cut open a major artery that was right in front of the tumour to properly remove it. He told us that he won't be coming tomorrow, but will come on Friday (2nd May) to check on me.
Around 5:00pm, I finally decided to sit up, since my back hurts after having slept so long in the same position ! I found out that I still had the drip, and that there's a "drain" on the left side of my face to drain out blood. Ade told me that she took a picture while I was sleeping and MMS it to her sis and my bro. The wonders of technology.......
At 6pm, my dinner came. Porridge of course, what else will it be ? However, I was glad to have something to eat, and although hesitantly at first, I was soon down to the last spoonful. I kept thinking, it's probably a first to have someone have an operation on the face in the morning, then to have that same person having dinner at night.
Bro-in-law also fetch mom to come visit me. I think mom looked scared to see all the dangling wires and to see me sitting up ! Around 9:30pm, they left me to let me rest. Unfortunately, unlike the first night, they kept turning the aircond off and on, so much so that it became really stuffy at times, but cold at other times. Because of this, I kept waking up because I really hate the heat.
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