Heart Sick (8)
I can remember that fateful day vividly; it was Sunday, July 30.
Just before lunch my mobile rang with an unfamiliar number shown on the screen. It turned out to be Dr Pau… “I have a patient who’s not ready for tomorrow’s surgery, if you come in to the hospital today, I can operate on you tomorrow!”, he sounded so casual, like making an appointment with the barber. My heart sank, my appetite for lunch gone, my head gone blank, I was desperately looking for an excuse just to delay this (I wasn’t ready!) but nothing came out…
Ready or not, I finally realized I had to go through this. Packed with some cloths and my tooth brush, and I was at the IJN at about 5pm. It was a Sunday and the registration counter was closed by 3pm; I was directed to register at the Emergency Dept (that didn’t help in calming me). Then they had problems finding me a room as all were occupied (oh this didn’t help either). After some hassles (“try checking if the one reserved for Tun is available?”), finally they found me a place in the paediatric ward. Yes a room with bright colored walls complete with a Mickey Mouse clock! I wasn’t complaining; it helped picking me up from the gloomy and anxious moods.
The rooms and conditions in the hospital was so much better than I had expected in a typical government hospital (privatized or not). Nurses were friendly (no more like those ‘Missies’ in the GH when I was a kid)!
It was a very busy evening for me. As soon as I had checked into the room, I was whisked away for blood samples, blood pressure, ECG, Echo, etc. Then there were briefings on my surgery by one of the surgeons and the anesthetist respectively; they explained their roles and what they were going to do to me and gave me an idea what to expect before, during and after the surgery (“you’ll find a tube coming out from your throat as soon as you wake up. That’s from a ventilator which helps you to breath and you’ll be unable to talk. And there are some other tubes…“). A video about the Do’s & Don’t’s and Before & After of a heart surgery was screened before they call it a day.
By 10pm, before bed, I was given some pills (one of them supposed to calm me down and help me sleep better) and a bottle of antiseptic shower shampoo for the morning shower.
This was my Day #1. Tomorrow's the BIG day.
Just before lunch my mobile rang with an unfamiliar number shown on the screen. It turned out to be Dr Pau… “I have a patient who’s not ready for tomorrow’s surgery, if you come in to the hospital today, I can operate on you tomorrow!”, he sounded so casual, like making an appointment with the barber. My heart sank, my appetite for lunch gone, my head gone blank, I was desperately looking for an excuse just to delay this (I wasn’t ready!) but nothing came out…
Ready or not, I finally realized I had to go through this. Packed with some cloths and my tooth brush, and I was at the IJN at about 5pm. It was a Sunday and the registration counter was closed by 3pm; I was directed to register at the Emergency Dept (that didn’t help in calming me). Then they had problems finding me a room as all were occupied (oh this didn’t help either). After some hassles (“try checking if the one reserved for Tun is available?”), finally they found me a place in the paediatric ward. Yes a room with bright colored walls complete with a Mickey Mouse clock! I wasn’t complaining; it helped picking me up from the gloomy and anxious moods.
The rooms and conditions in the hospital was so much better than I had expected in a typical government hospital (privatized or not). Nurses were friendly (no more like those ‘Missies’ in the GH when I was a kid)!
It was a very busy evening for me. As soon as I had checked into the room, I was whisked away for blood samples, blood pressure, ECG, Echo, etc. Then there were briefings on my surgery by one of the surgeons and the anesthetist respectively; they explained their roles and what they were going to do to me and gave me an idea what to expect before, during and after the surgery (“you’ll find a tube coming out from your throat as soon as you wake up. That’s from a ventilator which helps you to breath and you’ll be unable to talk. And there are some other tubes…“). A video about the Do’s & Don’t’s and Before & After of a heart surgery was screened before they call it a day.
By 10pm, before bed, I was given some pills (one of them supposed to calm me down and help me sleep better) and a bottle of antiseptic shower shampoo for the morning shower.
This was my Day #1. Tomorrow's the BIG day.
(Oh yes, they served curry chicken for dinner!)
I was very worried and anxious, like I was to go for war the next morning. But after awhile I was amazingly calm and slept quite well.
-hs
Labels: My Brush With Life
posted by HS & SC at
11:43 AM
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