my little adventure
Tuesday, July 03, 2007♥
recently underwent an orthognathic surgery.. it's considered a major operation, one tt involves moving both my upper and lower jaw.. it's purpose is to improve my bite i.e. my upper and lower rows of teeth touch each other when i bite.. and also to ensure that when i grow old, my teeth will not gimme pblms due to misalignment..
20th june is the big day.. the day of the op.. i checked into SGH on 19th.. the whole hospital experience is very enriching.. so enriching that i think we all should stay in hopsital at least once in our life.. =X *touch wood* i get to see so many different types of people.. including the patients, their families, the visitors, the nurses and the doctors..
oh.. btw, this will be a very long-winded entry.. jus read selectively.. =P
on the 19th.. there's this young patient in the ward i checked into.. her family is always ard.. and there's this hoard of friends who kept streaming in.. (btw, she absolutely dun look sick in anyway.. was talkative and constantly moving ard) made me wonder if i should declared my ward no. to my friends so tt u all can come entertain me too..
but i knew i dun require company before the op.. i'll only cry.. cos i was scared and kindness made me cry in times like these..
family support are so vitally impt for the patients.. this period of recovery made me feel like a baby once over.. when one is sick, one will tend to behave like a kid and expect their parents to shower them with TLC.. keke.. i was so pampered by my mother and i so enjoyed it.. and it is times like these tt u know ur parents really love u unconditionally.. the way they look, touch and sayang u so lovingly.. *_* awww~
hee.. the best part of hospital is the doctors lah.. i've decided that i wana be a wife of a doc after this hospital experience.. hohohoho.. a doc is so up up almightly there.. so authoritative, so charming.. and he saves lives!! gives hopes!! such a noble job!! like the ch u tv serial "jiayou jinshun", someone described one of the doc when he's attending to his patient that there's only him and the patient.. makes the doc so charming.. haha..
when i 1st reached the ward.. there's this rather smart-looking indian/malay doc, (who doesnt smells) that came and took some blood from me to do some testing.. he's quite charming too.. he showed me his badge lah.. but i din pay attention.. very preoccupied that my op is nxt day.. so i dunno if he's indian or malay..
anyway, at some point i almost think he's hitting on me.. XD cos he was probing my veins, feeling my skin (the gesture like when a guy invites u to a dance and holds ur hands) and telling me what smooth, soft skin i have in tt charming manner and asking me if he can poke the needle on the back of my palm instead of the usual inner elbow area.. of cos i said no.. =__=
anyway, the above was after i realised that my palm has been touching his groin for quite awhile when he was checking for veins on my inner elbow.. and of cos i bend my wrist away.. i wonder if he knows he'll be disturbing his patients in this manner.. O_o
i think i saw him again after my op when he's doin his rounds.. but i dun think he recognised me.. me with my bloated face and sausage lips.. so sad..
then, there's 2 other young docs who did most of the bits and pieces of what my main surgeon Dr Peck (quite an old guy with greying hairs and a very benevolent face) left them to do.. one was a lady and the other was a guy.. anyway, i like the lady, Dr Lee.. although she was rather stern, she was very informative.. and Dr Seah, he's kinda like the assistant surgeon to my surgeon.. he's cute and young too~ (he has big eyes, a very high nose bridge and basically, good features.. my mother asked me if he did his nose before cos it looks so nice like andy lau's.. hahaha.. btw, he says i look cute after the op with the bloated face.. hahaha.. actually i find i look cute too lah.. maybe in a twisted sort of way.. haha.. like a maple char.. or maybe like the mushmom's face.. XD)
anyway, when i 1st met him.. i understood the meaning of someone looking at u but not seeing u.. =/ cos he was so focused on my teeth tt i doubt he can see me roll my eyes at him.. haha.. why i roll my eyes huh.. cos nothing to do while lovely Dr Peck review my case..
and so they came and went..
the next time i saw Dr Peck and Dr Seah was at the operating theatre.. hee.. for most of u who have never been to an operating theatre before as a patient and dun ever intend to.. i can fill u in.. i was wheeled to the theatre level.. and no, i dun see corridor after corridor of fluorescent light as i was wheeled out.. cos the bed was in a sitting position.. so i was staring at the man wheeling me.. f3..
and i was transfered to a place where they call it the transfer area where there're other patients waiting to be wheeled to their respective op theatre.. i feel at tt point like pigs about to be butchered.. =/ some nurses place some more blankets over me to keep me warm.. i was wearing only a blue operating gown and a disposable underwear.. =/ eventually i was wheeled to the operating theatre after being asked the same questions many times over.. like wad was my name etc.. they even put a tracking device on my wrist.. to eh.. keep track of where i am..
the operating theatre was bright and cheerful with lively music in the background.. people was dressed in a blue operating gown.. which i often saw in NDC.. and they were chatting and having fun.. at tt moment, i felt quite happy.. haha.. at least it's not a dreadful place.. anyway, i kept quiet while lying there and they chatted while some preparation works are being done..
the anesthesiologist (who looks like a big bear) began to poke my left hand.. (after i woke up, i knew he failed the 1st time cos there's this super big bruise on my left outer palm.. and he chose another spot higher on my wrist.. *roarrr*) Dr Seah was deep in concentration near me.. and Dr Peck was jus walking up and down with nothing to do.. so i asked Dr Peck, "is the surgery difficult?"
at which he smiled widely and shake his head.. while the lady doc beside me whom i dunno is who but is the most talkative of the lot said somethg like "of cos it's not difficult for a man like raymond peck!! maybe for onlookers like us, we'll find it challenging.. but for him, he can do it with his eyes closed!"
and they all proceed to laugh including my surgeon, Dr Peck.. he kept laughing, nodding his head and saying thank you.. (btw, these days i've been goin to NDC 3 times a wk after my hospitalisation for him check my recovery progress.. and i've really started to know him.. he behaves like a little kid most of the time.. haha.. he likes to smile foolishly and likes to give people praises very generously.. for instance, when he was reviewing my teeth before the surgery, he would say, fabulous, fantastic, ah great~ very duh lah =__= and he always says i'll look very pretty after the surgery when the swelling goes down)
soon, the anesthesiologist placed a breathing mask over my mouth and told me to breathe normally.. says it's oxygen.. so i breathe.. after a while, he told me tt he's giving me the GA, so i should be getting sleepy soon.. indeed.. he barely finished his sentence before i noticed the background music got kinda cranky and was getting thinner & thinner.. i was actually fighting to stay awake.. but then, i rem tt i had to sleep anyway & i cant wake up in the middle of the op.. so i took another breath and Zzzzzzz...
the nxt moment i woke up.. i tot "it's over? hmm.. no pain, no taste of blood.. damn sleepy.. not tt bad afterall" so i slept.. somehow, i rem someone saying they goin to transfer the blood i donated for myself back to me now.. den.. i rem someone said "wad happened?" "she coughed" and i oso rem myself shivering violently.. from the cold maybe.. and the next moment i know i was at a high dependency ward.. and saw Dr Seah.. he told me tt the operation went very well.. and i went back to sleep.. btw, i was on a drip, oxygen tube, wired up to a machine tt i can hear my heartbeat ticking away, and a machine tt takes my bp automatically now and then.. =/
my parents came at night.. i asked them to leave early.. dun need to keep me company.. i was drifting in and out of sleep.. my saliva was very thick, difficult to swallow.. and at times i got so much saliva accumulated inside my mouth, i feel my ear getting blocked.. =/ like as thou water has seeped into ur ear.. the heel of my feet felt very sore.. like i've been lying in tt position forever.. all the while i was wondering why i din taste blood.. kinda expected to taste blood right since it's an operation inside my mouth.. din sleep well tt night at the HD ward.. it was a very long night.. it's burstling with activity.. patients and docs kept streaming in the middle of the night.. and the automatic bp-taking machine kept squeezing my arm every so often.. i learn later tt there's 3 trama cases tt night.. all were A&E.. such is life in a hospital.. haiz..
the next morning, which is thurs.. before the sun rises, i saw Dr Seah & Dr Lee again.. they removed my oxygen tube, cut the rubber band tying my teeth together and removed 2 drainers from the sides of my mouth.. so it was actually the drainers tt drained away all the blood, tt's why i din taste any blood.. wad a lovely man Dr Peck is.. haha.. Dr Seah told me tt i can try to talk already.. he asked me to say hello.. so i mumbled a hello.. and he actually grinned and said hi back to me.. hahaha.. he's so adorable..
later i was wheeled in a wheelchair to see Dr Lee to take some x-rays and to clean my mouth.. felt much better then.. able to get away from the bed.. so from thurs to fri, i was at the hospital sleeping most of the time and the doc kept checking up on me.. was very giddy & cant walk ard much..
fri, Dr Seah came and discharge me.. he asked me if i am fit enough to go over to ndc to find him to take more x-rays.. i told him yeah.. (actually, i'm not) then, he noticed tt my mother have to carry many things so he says dun need.. can go over on mon instead.. ^^
home sweet home~ my bed is like thousand times better than theirs..
anyway, i dun think i will be able to see Dr Seah ard anymore since i'm not his patient.. i was quite disappointed when i went for the 1st checkup and realised tt i'm seeing Dr Peck.. the 2nd time i went, Dr Peck wanted to remove my stitches.. while Dr Peck was removing it halfway, Dr Seah came in and asked if he can do it ^^v & very happily, Dr Peck said sure! & bounced away like a kid being asked to go play.. =___= anyway, it's so good to see him again.. he's much more gentle than Dr Peck and keeps mumbling to me too.. haha.. but he left behind one thread in my mouth which Dr Peck discovered a day later.. haha.. senior consultant is still better than a newbie doc.. =P hmm... so tt's the last time i saw him.. so sianz..
Dr Seah was my few interesting moments to remember during my hospital stay.. haha.. having such a good-looking doc ard to take care of me and was so often within inches from my face is the few nice things to rem.. furthermore, he's seen me when i was at the most ugly moments.. =/ with my speedy recovery, he'll also dissolve along memory lane.. and be a vague pleasant memory.. haha..
so 3 days after the op, fri, my face was super swollen, bloated.. and my lower lips is like a huge sausage..
ard one week after my op, my lips are already their normal size.. keke.. my face is still slightly swollen.. the swelling will take quite long to totally go off..
over the weekends i felt quite sick.. and uncomfortable.. i was only able to drink stuff.. cant open my mouth wide at all.. stomach very bloated.. but felt so much better with my mother's TLC.. *_*
2nd week into the op, i felt good.. my mouth can open wider and wider with each day.. i can take really soft food like mashed potato, chocolate =X (wait for it to melt in my mouth), dou hua, sesame paste etc.. i've become thinner.. last time i weigh was 49kg.. haha.. my jeans are looser.. but if u din know u would have tot i gained weight cos my face looks fat.. =P
9 days after the op, the bottom of my face is already smaller than the top of my face.. hahahaha..
13 days after the op, been eating porridge mostly.. i can kick some butts already.. haha.. already went shopping, albeit at imm.. hahaha.. i still weigh 49kg.. lost 1-3 inches EVERYWHERE except my face.. it's like i had an orthognathic surgery packaged with a liposuction.. hohoho~Labels: toothie
