#fuckkkk op this looks stunning!

[herriblog]

Operation day

On the day of surgery  Lumbar Hybrid Fusion Surgery, I was shit ass scared. We (husband, sis in law and myself) to the Specialist Clinic. They did the ECG, Blood test, and they pushed me to the same ward I was at the last two visits. And this time, they shifted me to a suite. N I was I turned to my husband and said, “We cant afford this shit.” And He was like. Dont worry. And we turned back, and the nurse pointed to another room and said, “this is the room.” Whoever passed by me said, “Hey, you’re back.” I was like yea. Here for the big surgery. And admission was done. Time check, it was 1115hrs, and the nurse had said you can drink 200mls of water till 1130hrs. And I was so distracted about the surgery, that I couldn’t think of drinking of water. 

Both of them wanted to go eat their lunch. And I said, they are going to fetch me at 1245hrs. It’s already 12pm. And he said before they send you, make sure you call me. I was feeling nervous.  I had multiple thought in my mind. Running away from the surgery was one of it. But I remember him telling me, “Remember the pain that you have been through the past months. It’s insane. You barely could sleep. The OT (Operating Theatre) Nurse came and I told her, could you give him 5mins to get up here. She said sure. And he did come in time. I went to the toilet. And then we said our goodbyes and was wheeled into the theatre.

I was telling the nurse that I was nervous and she said, “hey, you’ve been here before.” And I then said the last time it was moderate sedation (a sedation they gave without putting a breathing tube down your throat), and now it’s a GA (General Anaesthesia) where they put in a breathing tube and cut you open. And everyone has been very nice throughout. I forgot to ask her name. Only nurse I remembered was Nurse Elenita. She was the one who said I remembered you but I do not know from where. Then I told her that I came over here for Epidural Steroid Injections two weeks back. I explained to her the situation and that it didn’t work as there was too many scarring of tissues. And she was like don’t worry, Dr Wong is the best. And I asked if they will insert a urinary catheter and she said no. They wouldn’t. Usually they wouldn’t. So I thought, let’s just go and pee one more time. I went and pee.

Next thing I knew that I was being wheeled to the theatre. And bam! I was in the theatre. Damn. My last chance to say no! I looked around and I saw them asking if I need warm blanket and I said, “You mean the bair hugger?” And the Chinese nurse (Claire? Clarita? Can’t quite remember her name but I think she was a sister in the OT), n she tried to dig out a little history of mine. She found out I was a nurse and she wanted to know the reason why I didn’t do it in my hospital, and I explained that they didn’t even detect my problem. I found out the reason that it is in a private hospital. And she was like okay. I was trying to figure out who was the Anaesthetist. There was this lady who asked me when was my period and I answered, and she made me signed a document stating that I wasn’t pregnant as they will be using Xray . I signed it. Still trying to figure out who was she. What role she played. She was on the phone and the Chinese sister was holding on to my hand and reassuring me. The next thing I heard was Dr. D, coming to me and saying where is it running down. The right? I nodded. And the next thing he said firmly, “Prepare Urinary Catheter?” I was observing the spacious environment, seeing the nurse Elenita gathering her heavy equipment and the big light over the OT table. The OT table wrapped the same way it was for my endoscopic discectomy table.

The Chinese Nurse came over to me and I lifted my hand and said there is no Cannula. And she was like ok. No IV cannula. The Chinese nurse was all ohh… and she was finding the vein for the Anaesthetist, Dr T came and raised my right hand, and administered an local anaesthesia over my right and n said, I’m gonna be setting an IV cannula , and she did. I tried not to move my hand as the nurse pasted the transparent dressing. While he was applying the dressing she asked, “We will be administering suppository anti inflammatory in my anus and whether I agreed. I said yes. She was a little stunned when I agreed. How about Urinary Catheter? I said that’s what I asked the nurse because I am wearing a tena pad just in case I peed during the Op. And she said it’s fine if you didn’t want, it’s okay. I said, I agree for it too. And she said okay. Someone passed her a kidney dish. And in the kidney dish, had the anaesthesia medication. “I’m gonna be given the anaesthesia. Just relax.” I had a mask hover over my face. And I breathed in once and then twice and I was out. I don’t remember anything in between the procedure until I started kicking and screaming in pain. And I remember stopping and asking for a person’s hand or arm. I squeezed the hand so tightly and I apologised as I squeezed and Dr T asked are you in pain? I screamed, “of cos I am in pain!!!!” And she gave me IM Pethidine while explaining it to me as she gave it.

I woke up at 1830hours, in the reception and the nurse asked me how am I? How my pain. I hantam and said Pain score 7. And she said Pain score 7, we can’t let you go up. I was like fuck No…I want to see my husband. I want his arm. I want his comfort. I want him. No one else. No one else…. I said…Oh pain better. N she called the ward and said, We’ve called you twice. Can you come and get your patient? I was like she is sending me back. Faster la. I want to see him. And when I came back to the ward. I saw Baby! And I was like Baby! I think my breath stinks.  I need something for it. N they told him to go out and he was feeling flustered, oh, okok… I’ll be outside then. And when they transferred me, God the pain was horrible when they transferred me on to the bed. I was like oh fuckkkk! And I turned and I saw a familiar face, MJ!!!! Oh my god! I tot you are on leave. And she was like omg, no next week lah. I was like ohhh okok. And I dozed off. MJ was a ex colleague of mine, we had worked in the same private hospital once. She had been really nice. So that day was a day of always dozing off, I think I gave the nurses a hard time. I was trying to find a proper position, they ran IV Morphine  for me so I was in and out of conscious level and I demanded to get out of bed and I realized that I wasn’t making their job any easier. I was having left hand numbness, I kept on asking about the numbness. I was so disturbed by it that I thought I had a stroke. The entire arm was limp when I stretched it. I  kept on asking every nurse who came and saw me. And they all said maybe you slept on it, that’s why. One local nurse said you may need 2 weeks to get the numbness to clear. I was like 2 weeks!!! Babe! In my mind, All I thought was my Amsterdam trip. But that wasn’t important anymore. That was day operation day