The whole of the Raya Holidays have been a pain in the butt for me, physically speaking. There were never a moment which I felt like I was going to die any moment or even contemplating that my life be snapped off just like that. That was the extend of how painful it was getting on to me. Sitting, walking and even sleeping was normal activities that we all participate daily but to me, it was a chore. A painful chore!
Apart from that, I was thinking of how much delicious food I was missing, as I thought since I have so much problem in BO (bowel open) or in layman's terms, passing motion, I had to restrict my diet to just soft veggies, fish and soup. After that, mostly, had to drink heaps of water and also eat fruits but all this will not help 'cause my BO movements were still constricted with the pain from the sides of my anus.
That night, I decide to go to the specialist first thing I got an appointment to see a certain Mr. MMS . I have been going to this specialist clinic located in Assunta Hospital. http://www.assunta.com.my/
for some time now for follow up checks. The last few checks did not reveal anything but now, the evidence has surfaced. Suffice to say, this was the best time to analyze what was actually going on with me?
Date: October 26, 2006
Place: Specialist Clinic, Assunta Hospital.
Time: 1430 hours.
I arrived at the Room 8 Specialist clinic approximately 1430hours. The nurse who is now so familiar with me, took my report and shoved it into the specialist's room immediately. She could tell from my face I was in pain.
Having said that, there was supposed to be another guy who was before me, but he walked away. The nurse called his name out but no answer, and seeing me there all forlorn and in agony, she ushered me in instead.
"Mr coolgardy, what seems to be the problem this time?" enquired Mr. MMS.
"Sir, the pain, it has grown worse from my last visit. It has affected my walking, sitting and now the pain is really unbearable", I replied.
"Let's have a look at it, go over the examination bed" ordered Mr. MMS.
Obidently, I walked over there, took off my pants and lay there on one side until the good Mr came in. I told him that there were puss in my motion and he took some contracption and throbbed into my ass, all this time, telling me to relax.
I felt no relaxation and I felt as if I was defiled on that bed. But, this was just an examination.
"Yes, it looks like there is puss coming out and there seem to be a two bumps on each side of your buttock bordering the anus and the leg" explained Mr. MMS.
He added " let's get you admitted" and ordered me back to his table. As I sat there, Mr. MMS told me that he will do a scope to pinpoint exactly whats happening in my rectum / colon area. At the same time, surgery will be performed and at the same time, samples of blood, urine and faeces will be taken for examination for all kinds of other diseases.
In the meantime, the staff nurse helped Mr. MMS to prepare some documents which needed my signature. Later, I learnt that those documents were acually giving consent to the doctor on surgery and any other liabilities that may occur if anything happens. This will indeminfy the doctors from any counter law suits. Standard procedures in all hospitals before any major or minor surgery takes place.
After getting all the paper work done, I was ushered out in a wheel chair to the Admissions Dept. where I was to be admitted. I got hold of my brother and told him to return home first and get my stuff while I will wait for them to admit me in.
So, I was there waiting for the next few minutes and minutes became half an hour, so I got a bit impatience.
"Is there any problem with my insurance coverage" I asked this nice Indian chap who was manning my admisson forms.
"No, just that we are waiting for the Guarantee Letter from the Insurance company before proceeding with the admissions" he replied."Its taking quite some time" in an impatient voice. Then, I took my mobile, called up Asia Assistance Network which is handling the insurance under Mitsumi Sumitomo Insurance.
"Hi, whom am I speaking to?" I demanded.
"Lek Lin here" the girl over the phone replied.
"Well, I'm so and so here and I like to know if there is any problems concerning my Insurance GL? Look, I'm in pain here and its not a very nice situation to be sitting in a wheel chair and I really hope you guys will just speed up whatever you are processing there! I cannot be waiting for almost an hour, I could have just died here!" I retorted.
"Sir, sorry for this inconvenience, the GL will be ready and faxed over in 10 minutes" assured Lek Lin.
So, without wanting to pursue this conversation anymore, I hung up and waited for another 10 minutes But, it took shorter than that. I believe after my call, they quickly faxed over the GL and once they received it, immediately the Admissions officers did the usual processing.
Now, I thought to myself, I can lie down in bed but this was not to be. Horrors to horrors, the bed's not ready yet so I had to wait for another hour or so for them to finally clean up and make up the bed. I was thinking, wow, what an adventure.
"Why don't you rest in our treatment room" the nice Indian chap advised.
"Ok, but please get them to hurry up" I replied.
I was then wheeled to the treatment room which is actually the A&E section. I was placed at one end of the bed and the curtains drawn a bit for my privacy. The bed was hard, the pillow not soft at all, and best thing, I had to endure cries from little children who was obviously in pain getting their treatments or dressings sorted out.
Tried as I best to close my eyes, I could not. I know the voices around me were overwhelming but I did manage to get some shut eye for a minute or so, I guess.
"Sir, wake up, your bed is ready, I will now bring you up to Mawar Ward, at 4th Floor, Room 6, Bed 3" answered the Indian chap.
Making my way up to the ward, I noticed that the time has already crept to almost 1855hours. Wow, from 1430 hours to 1855 hours, thats like almost more than 2 hours of waiting for my bed. Never mind, I thought to myself, at least I have a bed and will get my pain off for once and for all.
Place: Mawar Ward, Room 6, Bed 3, Level 4.
My bed was placed next to the window. There are altogether 4 beds in that room. The guy next to me was an old uncle (age 78) who came in to the hospital because he fell from his roof and thankfully for him, his fall was broken by a mattress. So, now he has fractured his arm and bit of his leg but over all, he was well and hearty. I later found out that this uncle was a fisherman, still stays in Pangkor Island but his children had him moved out from there to be placed in Assunta. He kept on ranting that all his life, he never entered a hospital and how his children scolded him for it.
The bed directly opposite of me was this Indian guy named Mahendran aged 23 years old. He was admitted due to some lung infection (http://www.ecureme.com/emyhealth/data/Lung_Infection.asp).
Poor guy, obviously I could see him suffering. He was having bouts of chills and also vomitting at the same time. His fever never went down, always spiralling up. Most of the nights, I could see him suffering as the staff nurses came in at odd hours to take his tempreature and make him swallow all kinds of pills. He also had his blood taken out daily for testing. At first, they suspected he had dengue but turned out to be otherwise.
Bed directly opposite of me, on my right hand, was this guy aged about 26 year old, Chinese guy who works as a cook. Apparently, he was diagnoised as having Hepatitis A. For a cook to have that kind of sickness is pretty much dangerous to the people surrounding him as he can be a carrier and also infect others. As a result of that, this chap was placed in the hospital for some days now (more than a week) and what the doctors do daily is take out some blood and do testing. At the same time, to ensure he does not have any fever, if he has, it indicates that he is still not recovered as yet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A
After learning so much of my immediate neighbors in this ward, I try to rest but was interrupted by this young student nurse.
"Sir, is this your first time in Assunta Hospital? enquired the young nurse.
"Yup, this is my first time" I replied, trying to cut short the conversation as I was not in the mood to entertain.
"So, you see the two door on the left and right, those are the toilets. This call button, press the red button is to call for the nurses" she explained. Later on, I learnt that this call button was my best button I had for years. I could summon these nurses to my command at the press of a button at any time of the day and they would not dare to complain.
"On this button, you can swtich on the lights, and this is the TV remote control which you can access for a nominal fee of RM10 per day. We have several channels on this network, mostly movies and news channels." she explained.
"So, would you like to rent the TV?" sounding like those hardcore direct sellers.
I thought to myself, why not? Since I might be bored shit sitting here and just sleeping, some TV might cheer me up. Since there is no WIFI available as yet in the hospitals, I might just take this opportunity to watch some TV.
As I was supposed to be going through two things tomorrow, my endoscopy and then my surgery, I was place on fasting; meaning no solid food or water. However, to clear my bowels, I had to take some food as the staff nurse asked me if I did eat anything? I told her categorically, no but I took lunch.
She went out for a while and brought in a bowl of cold plain porridge. I ate it reluctantly as it tasted bland and it has this very sick feeling in it. However, I needed to take this as I was about to take a laxative called Golytely. Its used to move the bowel so that they BO more often. When this happens, one will not want to be in my shoes as I how I felt later.
The nurse came in again, this time brought in this white bottle and poured into a cup. She said it was best to have it diluted in water as it was very salty.
"Let me try it" I asked the nurse. So, she allowed me to take a sip of it and my face changed immediately after tasting it. It was so salty, like sea water. After that, the staff nurse added some water to it and I drank it but it still felt funny. http://www.hopkinshospital.org/health_info/Womens_Health/Reading/Golytely_Bowel_Prep
Later in evening, my brother and his family dropped by passing me the stuff I needed. They stayed on for a while but in terms of visitors volume, I salute my Indian brother opposite of me. He had the record number of visitors daily, ranging from aunties, uncles, cousins and many many more, at times it was like a social gathering around his bed. And, like all Indians, they make the most noise but I guess I'm not complaining because usually this things happen. They are just showing their concern for this poor chap.
The uncle next to me was abuzz with his daughters and his grandchildren who kept on shuffling up and down the aisle in the room. Thank goodness, they were not that loud but still you know, when you are alone in your little bed, you kinda think, wow, how nice to have a large family, so its not so quiet after all.
But, I was not alone, for a few friends did dropped by and that included Ken(http://www.kenfresh.blogspot.com/) but I was not in the mood to actually elaborate more as the effect of the laxative began to take its course. It was controlling my bowel more quickly than my mind can reinforce itself control around that region. Thus, it was a losing battle after all.
Keep on burping and like what it was meant to be, I kept on having nausea feeling. While they were talking to each other, I excuse myself to go to the toilet as I really needed to empty my bowels. I'm not sure how many times I made the pilgrimage to the seat of throne, but it was numerous to my count.
Sensing that I was not in the mood to talk, Ken and my friends excused themselves and left me. I believe the time was about 2230hours when they left. Soon the ward became quiet as the last visitors left but not for my Indian friend opposite of me. The family still stayed until I thought it was quite late.
Time: The witching hours
Thinking that my pilgrimage has ended, nope that was just the start of it. Many trips were made to the seat in the deadliest hour of the night...how many times I came out and within half way to my bed, I had to go back to it as if I was being drawn to its allure but this was not pleasure, it was PAINFUL!!!
Painful in the sense, I had nothing much to download anymore but still my bowel kept on opening and there was a time, I did not want to leave the throne. I just sat there hoping it will come out. I rested my head next to the wall but nothing moved. Thinking, perhaps this was the end of it, I moved back to my bed, inched closer to the pillow but alas, this was not to be. I had to rush back to the throne to have it eased off.
All in all, I guess there were about 10 trips of more? Lost count, totally dehydrated and no water to drink (remember I was still fasting) I crept up to my bed and thank goodness managed to sleep for a while before rudely awaken by a staff nurse with an attending doctor besides her.
"Sir, sorry to disturb you, but we need to put you on the IVU drip. The doctor here will insert this needled which will act as a conducit for the drips to flow through" she explained in a hushed voice. I allowed her to do it as I had no more strength to protest nor fight anymore. I was just like a test animal being poked here and there. No sooner than that, she left me with the drips on.
Thought, ok, worse has gone, I went to sleep. No, again, I was awaken by another staff nurse with this Dr. Singh with her.
"We have come to take your blood now" the staff nurse said. "We need to test your blood" she added.
Dr. Singh with his giant syringe came and tried to draw blood from one of my veins but this particular vein was not co-operating. At last some part of my blood was forming a resistant group.
Dr. Singh then went to my right hand and tried to draw some blood from there. At last it came out, so, I guess my "piece de resistant" was weak at this juncture.
"If we cannot get from your veins, we will have to draw from your veins which is located at your calves" joked Dr. Singh to me.
I looked at him, my mind F*** off, I don't need a Jerry Seinfield stand up during this witching hour. Instead of an array of expletives, I just nodded and smiled not agreeing but just being diplomatic.
They left, I slept...but not before being awaken by the church bells. It was already 0600 hours, the first mass of the day is going to start in a short while. My bed was next to the Assumption church, which at that time, I felt a tinge of blessed because not many sick people can be near to a church and draw some spiritual strenght from it.
The bells began to toil even louder and each time it toiled, I began to ponder, wow, my journey is really begining. I'm not sure what will happen next? What will they find out in me? What will the tests come out? Will it be bad? Will it be bad? I don't know, I'm just praying that things will be good and positive because when one is really down and out like me, a lot of things can play out and this affects your rational thinking. So another day has dawned and another journey is about to begin.....
1 comment:
I can't even begin to imagine the pain that you were in! What were you diagnosed with?
I've never been admitted into a hospital before, so it's interesting to read about your hospital experience.
Again, I'm glad that everything turned out fine in the end! :-)
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