Place: Mawar Ward, Rm 6-3
Time: 0730 hours.
Another new day dawns around my new "home". The bells from the Assumption church began toiling around 0600 hours and that sort of broke my sleep. Within minutes, the church was abuzz with the choir and Mass for the day began. As I lay there, I could hear the prayers said by the priest and the congregation that followed it.
In between, I believe I dozed off before woken up by the shuffling of the feats of the nurses around the ward. The first thing according to their routine will be to take the patient's blood pressure, temperature and the pulse. All this was done religiously every morning, afternoon and evening. Data will be collected and recorded in the patient's chart. Some of the lines drawn looks like our local KLCI bourse. Ups and downs but for me it was moderate, not much of ups mostly median line, which was good news.
Breakfast was served, I had two slices of bread with butter and jam and a cup of Milo. Again, the feeling from the anasthestic was there but thank goodness not that strong as it was yesterday. I managed to gulp down the Milo and ate the bread with relish, as if this was the proper meal of the day unlike yesterday which I had force feed myself.
Immediately after breakfast, the nurses came in to change the bed sheets and the pillow cases. Again, this was a routine done almost daily which I thought was not bad comparing to Govt. hospitals which I believe did not practice this (or I may be wrong).
After changing, the nurses told me that they will take off the dressing and I will have to BO (bowel open or pass motion) and after doing that, to have my sitz bath. I was like huh? Sitz bath? I thought that this action will be assisted by the nurses and I kind of felt worried. Nothing of that sort mind you, but the thought of another person who was not of the same sex trying to give me a bath? I wanted to protest but then I did not voice out anything because I did not know what a sitz bath was all about.
So a stiz bath is where warm water mixed with salt is passed through a long tube and one sits in it. The term sitz bath comes from the German word "sitzen" which means to sit. Its supposed to be ease discomfort in the rectum area and at the same time acts as a disinfectant for the rectum/ anus area. (http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/sitz_bath.jsp)
The feeling one feels sitting on it is strange for the beginners as this warm gushing water will come down from the tube and a sort of fountain like effect happens and this is aimed at the anus area. (one can also control the flow by a switch like attached to the tube) Feeling is like comfortable because of the warm water and then it really soothes the rectum area. Good for those who have constipation problems too as it really eases the bowel movement .
Before I can enjoy all that, I had to have my dressing taken off. I was surprised that Mr. MMS was up at my ward that morning, followed by a staff nurse and two nurses. As they were peeling of the dressing, I cried in PAIN, pain because each time the sticthes came off, it felt as if my whole skin went with it. I cried out quite loud too because I really could not stand it.
The nurses told me to push the pain killer button to allow for the pain killers to take effect but it was no use. The pain killers this time failed in their tasks. I felt so much pain that I just did not know what to say or do except to cry out in pain. I know it was embarrasing but no choice, it was a stinging pain. Just so remember when you have a cut wound, just add salt on it and then this is the sort of pain I felt in me. I nearly fainted out of exhaustion as the nurses struggled and Mr MMS was there and I believe that he took over after that. With one pull, the whole dressing with the kaltostat (http://www.dressings.org/Dressings/kaltosta.html) came out.
"The pain is there because for the first day, it has to be tight" explained Mr MMS.
I nodded but I was happy it ended there.
"Get some hydrogen peroxide to clear it and also for the subsequent dressings, make sure that its not too tight, make it loose" ordered Mr MMS to the staff nurses.
With that, I ventured to the toilet to have my BO, sitz bath and shower. I did not BO that day as nothing came out (remember I was fasting and did not have any appetite). So, I took to the sitz bath, when the saline touched my nerve skin, it was another painful sensation. Somethng to the effect of ant bite this time. I sat there for a good 15 minutes to have it sterilize my wound area. After that, I proceeded to shower making sure I did not touch my wound as it was still an open wound and like any wound, touching any sort of material be it water in this case, it will cause me to feel a tinge of pain again.
Putting on some new clothes made me feel refreshed for a while but not for long as the nurse came promptly to do my dressing. One needs to have a daily dressing as the nurse will clean the wound and then apply kaltostat on it to ensure that the wound close faster and heal better.
"Sir, this is going to a bit painful, so I would recommend you to press the pain killer button so that the pain killer can flow into your blood and you will not feel any pain at all" the nurse told me.
Scared of the earlier incident, I pressed so many times thinking that it will help me. But, alas, this was not to be. I can still feel the pain. Each time the nurse uses a wool to administer into the wound, I felt the pain creeping. I had to cringe my fist and at times to stop the pain, I bit my pillow so hard just so that I can deviate my mind from the thought of the nurse doing the dressing.
For the 1st day, the dressing was longer than usual. The wound was obviously very huge and the more the nurse cleaned it, the more agony I felt. At last, she ended her actions and then put on a gauze on it. The gauze will act as a plaster in this sense to cover the wound area. At the same time, it will also hold the kaltostat firmly, ensuring a speedy recovery.
After the whole ordeal of the day ended, I rested in my bed thinking what more can happen. I pressed more pain killers in but not knowing that the side effect for this was again going to cause me to have a nausea feeling A nurse came to explain to me about this later and she also told me that they have a pill to counter this feeling. Talk about counter effects, they have it all.
Later on, family members, friends and colleagues dropped by. The highlight of the day was my mom's soup, Loh Hon Koh with freeze dried vegetables. I drank the soup with relish as that was the only dish that tasted not bland. It had the right taste I wanted. Apparently, after drinking it, my appettie sort of came back or perhaps I was just plain hungry.
As night crept along, I began to fall under an intense pressure thinking of my dressing and also the urge to have my BO. I know only to well, that if I still don't have a normal BO for the next few days, I believe somthing bad is brewing but knowing me, the devil as myself, I usually put myself into negative territory almost immediately. I felt a shiver thinking of tomorrow....sleep was not favorable at all and the fact, was, I wanted to go home... (to be continued)
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