From dad's stroke to my needless operation! What a weird wonderful life!

I have been trying to write for ages now; so much has happened that I wanted to put on record so I won’t forget. But as usual, the dreaded writer’s block hit me head on and countless of drafts have been deleted. I guess one dramatic event after another back to back have also knocked me on sideways. I am going to try hard to recall what happened from dad’s stroke to my unneeded operation.

Even before I went to Kendal in December dad was already complaining that his left hand is very weak and he can’t grip stuff anymore, but pleading with him to go to the doctors went on to deaf ears. Since I can’t exactly pick him up and bring him to the doctors, I settled by observing him and he didn’t seem to get any worse and barely complains, so being comforted by ‘strong dad’ mask, I let it go. When I came home in January, dad seems to be ok except for his weak left arm, but early in February, it seems to hurt more and he surprised me by asking to make an appointment with my friend, who is a general practitioner. But I wasn’t surprised when he kept postponing it from day to day. Things came to a head on 15 February, when dad’s left side became completely weak, he fell as he tried to get up from the bed, and us three children panic and pleaded for him to go to the hospital, and calling Uncle Jo, he convinced me to convince dad to agree to go to Serdang Hospital, despite it being the hospital which mom died. So we bundled dad up into the car and brought him to the Emergency Department and waited from 9.00 p.m. until 3.00 a.m. for news that within the last two weeks dad suffered a minor stroke and he has an undiagnosed hypertension and diabetes. He was given medications and was allowed to go home with reference for physiotherapy and further treatment at a government clinic of our choice. The days that followed were an adjustment for the whole family as we try to deal with a “disguised happy” depress Daddy. Well we are still adjusting and dad has stabilized a bit and very discipline about his medications and diet, though he cheats now and then of course.

Well, as we were trying to adjust to this new change, I had to go ahead and have an unexplained stomach ache a week after we brought dad to the hospital. If I haven’t known myself really well, I would have thought I was going to have a baby, it was a contraction like pain that comes and goes in threes and rest for an hour in the beginning and as the night went on the rest period became shorter and shorter, the only weird thing was it was in the upper region of my stomach. When sis woke up in the morning, seeing me doubled over in pain, she wanted to take me to the doctor, but as always not wanting to bother anyone, I told her to consult doctor google, and sis says except for pain in the lower right part of my abdomen, it sounds like it might be appendicitis. She wanted to take me to the hospital right away, but I wasn’t convinced so I told her to drive to the clinic behind our house and get the doctor to check me out first.


As the doctor prodded my stomach, my lower right side hurts really bad, which worried the doctor enough she told me to go to the hospital just in case it was appendicitis. So in the end, I had to go to the dreaded Serdang Hospital after all. Sis just got her license back and all those ten years of not driving still shows, so all the 15 minutes it took to get to the hospital, I was worrying about her driving and knowing how notoriously hard to get parking at the hospital, I told her to find parking first instead of dropping me off in front of Emergency (I can’t help it, I always worry about others first before me). So looking for parking took us about ten minutes, and in the end we illegally parked at the side of the road, and the five minutes’ walk to Emergency felt like the longest time because I was in excruciating pain with every single step I took.

It was around 10.00 a.m. when we arrived at the Emergency Department. The nurse took some blood and urine sample and told me to wait for the doctor. In about 40 minutes the doctor called me in, prodded me some, asked a few question and then told me to go get an x-ray and then told me to go and eat first because my blood test result will only be ready between one hour to one and half hours, and then come back in and see her. When I came back in the doctor wasn’t really sure, but she says it looks like appendicitis so she is going to refer me to the surgical team, so I was sent to wait in the yellow zone of the emergency department. I waited for another hour until another doctor came to ask more question and prod me some more, and then another hour until that doctor came with two more doctors who seem more senior than her and they asked me some more question and each prodded me some more. After all that, they still weren’t sure so they decided to send me for ultrasound, which in the end I waited for nearly two and a half hours on a wheelchair outside the ultrasound room. All this while my pain was increasing in volume and frequency and I was getting really impatient. Finally in the ultrasound room it took three doctors, two of them specialist prodding me to decide they basically couldn’t see anything and suggested an MRI to the surgical doctors, of which they decline. Finally they decided that I am to be warded and prepped for surgery.

It was 5.00 p.m. when I reach the ward. I was told to start fasting and that an IV line would be started. Around 7 p.m. a doctor tried to insert the needle for the IV line on my left hand, it hurts so bad, I cried, she apologized and tried on my right arm, it didn't hurt as bad, but I knew something was wrong because it kept right on hurting, usually after the initial prick it wouldn't hurt anymore. I didn't dare say anything because I didn't want the doctor to bungle another area of my hands and moved to my feet. I couldn't make anyone believe me anyway because it had not started to swell yet of which it did in the morning. In the morning a whole class of would be doctors and a few senior doctors and a specialist or two came to see me and puzzled over my diagnosis. In the end, still not very sure, telling me I have a suspected appendicitis,but trying to be sure it wasn't my PCOS causing the problem they are asking a gynecologist to do an ultrasound to rule out any gynecological problem. With that ruled out, they told me their plan to do a diagnostic laparoscopic surgery to determine if I have appendicitis and to proceed with appendectomy if I do. So the verdict was I have to continue my fast until they have an operation theater free. I waited the whole day in thirst and still no news of when I was going to surgery. Since none of the doctors of whom I told about my hypertension medications seems to care and I have started to feel a bad headache forming, I whispered to a nurse about my missed meds and that I think my blood pressure is high. That got me a sip of water to down the pill(which was like mana from heaven), and the joy of watching a doctor getting a scolding from the nurses.

By the time the sun sets that day I wasn't feeling so good, my pounding heart started to make itself known, and I was flushed, my ear was so hot to touch, but when my temperature was taken, it was normal.Basically this worried the surgeon so much that she decided to hold off my surgery, so I got a respite from my fasting, with the understanding I have to start back at 4 a.m. What was interesting in this incident was that as I was telling the doctors my medical history, one of the doctors said I am more educated than most houseman there (of which didn't reassure me much)and I finally got my swollen IV line taken off and inserted on my left arm by another doctor, and thank god, this time it worked.

The next day after another consultation, the doctors went ahead with the decision to operate. I went into surgery around 9.30 a.m. and was wheeled back into the ward around 2.30 p.m. I was told that my appendix was okay but it was taken out just the same, 'just in case'. Luckily I didn't have too much a bad reaction to the general anesthesia. The thing was,the next morning, since I was recovering well from the operation the doctors told me they were discharging me and I was baffled and ask them, but my stomach still hurts, if it was not my appendix then what was it? So they decided to keep me for observation one more day. By the next day round and still no doctors figuring out what was wrong with me, I got really fed up and agreed to be discharged.

So that was my misadventure for last month. What a weird wonderful world!