A Long Tale.

Playing: Coldplay - Fix You. (on repeat)
Yes, i just want someone to fix me up, real quick if possible.


It had been with me for over 20 years. One fine Monday morning last week, it decided to perforate, leaving in pain beyond whatever i've ever experienced..
Last monday, my appendix decided it wanted no more life with me and perforated.

It all started sunday morning, after watching a football game, was going to sleep at about 5am, talked to dad a little and then went off to bed.. suddenly, there was a pain in my left abdomen. Dismissing it as probably just some gastric discomfort i was experiencing, i tried to sleep it off.. but a little more than 2 hours later, i woke up and couldn't sleep, 7am it was. So i laid awake in my bed, bearing the slight pain which was constantly on.. parents woke up later, then after drinking a glass of warm Milo, things didn't change much.. the pain gained momentum a little to the afternoon, it was still bearable, just more unconfortable. Around 2pm, Ben (my bro-in-law, doctor) came over to check on me. After a abdomen examination, he could find nothing 'hard' all was 'soft'. (i guess 'hard' means something's inflamed?)
Anyways, the pain didn't seem to get better even after some medication he gave, one for gastric, another for the pain. In the evening, Ben called in a favour from his friend who was a surgical consultant for a private hospital, we went to let him examine me, like what Ben had said from the previous examination, there was nothing hard in my abdomen. By this time however, the pain had started to localize on my right side of the stomach, consistent with Appendicitis . So that surgeon said i could try some antibiotics and see whether the pain goes off. The antibiotics could make the Appendicitis better without having to undergo an operation. CT scan and ultrasound were suggested but they decided it wouldn't help that much anyway.
On the way back home after that, Ben told me 'if suddenly in the middle of the night, your stomach feels very painful, that probably means your appendix has perforated and you can ask your dad to fetch you to the hospital. '

so who wants to guess what happened that night?

So i went to bed sunday night with pain still present in my stomach, slept for an hour maybe? Then the pain took over and i laid on the bed awake. I was imagining what would happen if i really were admitted to the hospital. I looked at the clock, 3.30 am. Judging by the pain not going away for so long, i had a bad feeling that i was probably hospital bound soon. I thought the morning would be a good time to tell dad to send me to the hospital. Suddenly, while i was sleeplessly pondering all those thoughts, the pain quadrupled. Mind you, the pain before was bearable but often fluctuates to the borderline of my threshold of pain. So imagine the maximum pain you can stand without screaming out loud, then quadruple it.
So, from first sign of pain till perforation, less than 24hours. Zzz.

Hard to imagine but the pain of your appendix perforating is, indeed, that painful.
The pain quadrupling confirms the hypothesis that my appendix has perforated, that is only the beginning. The problem now was: I couldn't move without experiencing excruciating pain. So, part one of the impossible was to notify my parents. I somehow managed to wake mom up. Then a mistake was made. You see, i was in pain and the only thing i wanted was to stop the pain. So, i asked mom to make me a glass of Milo and give me the painkillers first before sending me to the hospital. Looking back now, i should've just taken the painkillers with plain water la, but i had always known that painkillers on an empty stomach wasn't very advisable, that why i asked for the Milo.
Back to the story: The painkillers did absolutely nothing to ease the pain. The next thing impossible thing i had to do was possibly the hardest throughout the entire ordeal. I had to move from the room upstairs to dad's car downstars. Normally, this would be a piece of cake. But, like i said, I was in EXCRUCIATING pain. The vocabulary i have is just not sufficient enough to described the pain in whole. I can only say this: the trip from the room to the car is possibly the most difficult 20 metres in my life. I had to bear the pain, there was no other solution. I was feeling nauseous, as if the Milo would be coming out any minute now. The feeling persisted until after i was admitted to the hospital and waiting for the operation. Thankfully however i did not vomit.
In addition to the pain while i tried to get to the car, i had to make sure i don't scream or anything, my parents were probably worried and panicking already by my groans and the obvious look on my face.
In the end, i decided and managed to just bear the pain without freaking my parents out and get to the car. Did i mention it was painful?

We made it to the hospital, Ben said he would meet us there. I thought that arriving at the hospital was the end of my pain. I was so wrong.
First of all, i thought that arriving at the hospital meant that i wouldn't have to move so much with all the pain. After reaching the hospital, i had to move to a wheel chair, by that time i was already in so much pain it should be a crime asking me to move. After the wheelchair, i moved to a bed in the emergency room, after mustering enough energy and withstanding all the pain, i got onto the bed. There, a peripheral intravenous line was started on my right hand. The pain from the perforated appendix was so bad that i was actually happy to feel pain that was so much more smaller. Then after a while, they had to move me to the ward, where i was to rest and wait till the OT(operation theatre) was prepared. So i bloody had to move again!! Can you believe it?! Walao.. .. so i return back to the wheelchair and they pushed me to the ward where i moved back to a bed. All this while in pain and nauseous.
Secondly, i thought that arriving in the hospital would mean they would put me out of my pain and just give me a shot of painkillers. That didn't happen until after i reached my temporary ward in pain. 5 minutes after that i finally heard them saying that they were going to give me painkillers. It took another 10minutes for the painkillers to arrive. They gave me was Pethidine. It was given via intramuscular shot on my left arm, since my right was already on the IV drip. It has now become my favourite drug and i shall remember it for a long long time. It worked fantastically, i can attest to that. :D
Ben told me as the shot was given: congratulations, you are now a drug addict. Hehe.
Pethidine relieved my pain. I could smile again. It was 5am+ in the morning. I was to wait till 8am for the OT to be ready. In the case that no pregnant women or heavily injured people come needing the OT too, that is. 8am was the time the specialist surgeons arrive for work as well, so in case there are many complications to my operation the surgeons can call for backup, Ben explained.
And so 8am came, i was transferred to another bed and they wheeled me to the OT. Another problem arose, i drank Milo at 4am just now. They need to make sure my stomach is empty so that i don't vomit in the middle of the operation. So to be on the safe side, i was there in the OT waiting till 10am. 6hours minimum is standard from your last drink till the operation. While i was there staring into space, many nurse/surgeons/doctor came and look at my chart. One of them commented 'oh, dah bagi Pethidine, no wonder you're smiling.' Then i replied 'aduh, kalao tak bagi, dah nanggis la'.
10am, i was wheeled to the actually OT at last, i was previously just chucked in a corner in the waiting area for the OTs. I was in OT 9, if i remember correctly. Then the operation was going to start, a few asked if it was my first operation, i said yes. The pain was beginning to come back so i wasn't that worried about the operation not going well or anything actually. I just wanted the pain to go away. They then started the general anaesthesia . I tried my best to remember what it feels like, you know, you always see in movies and on tv, patients just blacking out and nothing else. I wanted to see what it feels like, i tried to everything while they started me on the air tube. You know what you see on tv? Well, it turns out, it's true. You really just get knocked out without recalling anything.

The next time, i woke up in the room, the time on the clock showed.. .. wah, can't remember.. .. .. around 11am maybe? So the operation itself took about an hour or so. Anyways, Ben had told me this, that i would wake in a room full of other patients all of whom had just finished their operations and were recovering from the general anesthesia. It wasn't that bad, i wasn't very disorientated. I could remember going in the OT. I was still on the oxygen mask when i woke up, guess what my first words were? Sadly, they were 'mau muntah' then a nurse came and took off the mask for a while and just as i started to volmit, she used something to suck away all the vomit from my mouth. The mask was put back on and i rested there for around 10minutes. In that time, one nurse talked to me and showed me my appendix. I couldn't see clearly without my spectacles, just saw bloody light brown mass in a small bottle. I haven't seen it since. The test results of the biopsy will be given early August. Roughly 10minutes, then i was moving to my ward for post-op.
I haven't mentioned which hospital it is. Well, it's the general hospital of Johor Bahru. The Sultanah Aminah Hospital. Thanks to Ben, i stayed in the officer's ward aka first class. So it had air-con and all.
Operation cravings. I have quite a few. Even till now, i still have them. They say you crave for things a food especially when you can't have them. That is so true.

My first craving was 15minutes after regaining consciousness and vomiting: water. It turned out that my stomach was not ready so soon after the GA(general anesthesia) to accept water. So i couldn't drink water.. .. The first 2 days post-op, i was on a 6 bottle x 250ml saline solution diet, with no water given orally. Needless to say, we lips were extremely dry. I could wet my lips with water though, just nothing to drink. I was basically a cripple post-op. The wound on my right is roughly 7-8cm wide. 11 stitches. It would hurt like mad if i tried to move a lot. Worst was when i needed to sit up from the lying down position, the pain was insane. More so when you tried to stand up. I felt the full force of it the first night when i needed to use the toilet. Walao.. after that, i didn't go to the toilet for 2 days. The pain!
20 years old. I never thought i would need my mom to help me when i needed the toilet. Sigh. Still such a dependent little boy. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I didn't like it at all but had no choice.
I had 3 pethidine shots after post-op. They helped me sleep through the night, through the pain.
After that horrific toilet experience, it took a mother, a sister, a bro-in-law and a good friend to finally conjure enough strength to walk to the toilet once more. One of my ward-mates even clapped when he saw me on my feet. Haha, that says something. I was actually quite the joke among the nurses, they were saying that women that delievered babies via C-section, some of them actually start walking the first day. Here i am, needing so many people rooting for me just to reach the toilet.

The fourth day, the day the doctors finally take a look my wound and a chance maybe for discharge. I desperately wanted the discharge really, not because i was all better, but i believed i was ready to start resting at home. That way, at least mom could rest more and do other stuff while i rested in bed or something. Thank the heavens. I was cleared for discharge Thursday morning. I got discharged thursday afternoon.
In case you didn't know, all these chaos was happening on the same week as my brother's wedding! So i really really really needed to get out of the hospital. That way mom can get things done and entertained some of the relatives and will be staying in our place.
Things weren't as smooth sailing as i had hope it to be, the transition from hospital bed to the house bed. I had diarrhea in the evening, the house bed isn't inclined as the ones in the hospital can be adjusted to, so sitting up and then standing and walking to the toilet was hard enough. Then you had the urgency due to the diarrhea somemore.. .. ..
I got very depressed really. The first depression episode.

After the craving for water, which was satisfied by the end of the second day post-op. My craving shifted to sugar. Anything sweet. I just wanted to feel glucose, fructose and all the other kinds of polysaccharides in my mouth once more. The simple answer to it? Ribena. The first thing i asked my mom went i reached home - ribena please.

Back to the depression, i was feeling very frustrated. Then realized it was probably my fault with the diarrhea. So i began to regulate my water and food intake since i wasn't eating for almost four days. Things slowly got better, the pain eased a little, i could walk longer disregarding the pain. Television and the anticipation for the wedding got me through the rest.

Saturday was the big day. I had been eating nothing but porridge for the past 2 days, and fruits of course. Porridge was on the menu again as i prepared to leave for church in the morning. Due to many last minute things to be done, i eat plain porridge in the morning, mom didn't have time to prepare anything else. Zzz.
Anyways, the star was to be my brother, Edwin. It is his marriage afterall.
So off to church i went. Everything went ok. There was buffet for lunch. Took some drinks, then Ben said i could take the BeeHoon, and so i had something to eat for lunch. There was the tea ceremony back home after that.
All in all, i managed the pain and the wound pretty well, so i would like to think. When everything was done, managed to get a nap of about an hour, then got dressed, ate porridge and off to the hotel we went. I wasn't going to eat anything apart from the shark's fin soup and the dessert. In the end, that how it things went.
Many concerned relatives and friends arrived for the dinner, many shocked and surprised with my abdomen/hip holding most of the time, until i explained that i had just undergone surgery 5 days ago. Like in the morning for church, i managed to get into my coat, which was nice. Though i look like an old man having a difficult time standing straight. I was pretty hunched throughout. Don't know why.
I was mistaken for my brother, the groom, 3 times. It was funny seeing people walking up and seriously taking i'm the groom and congratulating me. I think the suit made me look too formal. Haha. But i was the groom's brother, so i should be wearing a coat right?
All went well, and i was thankful.

I went home, feeling the pain in my wound. There was swelling around the wound, and it hurt when you pressed. I washed up and went to bed after some food.

Sunday. It was supposed to be the day to mark the start of my full recovery, with the removal of the stitches in my wound. Ben came over and removed them. 11 stitches. Very long 10 minutes. Some of them hurt more that others. I thought it was the beginning of the end of my recovery. Ben said however that the swelling might mean pus or blood. Neither was good. He told me that if it doesn't go away by itself, they may have to reopen the wound!!!! And let the pus/blood come out since the wound won't be healing with it around there anyway.
Reopening the wound. Walao, i was terrified of the potential pain already.

5minutes after the removal of the stitches, i notice an odd stench, a mixture of something you only find it toilet and vomit. Needless to say it was horrible. I began to sniff myself. OMG, it seemed to be coming from me. I went to the toilet and wash myself just to be sure. Then, after that, i sniffed myself again, strangely the smell seems to be still there.
Almost an hour later, Ben had left. i was sitting on the sofa, watching telly. Suddenly i felt liquid sliding down my side. I knew i was in trouble. I open my sarong, and i see the source of the smell and the liquid. My wound has become the outlet of the pus and it smell really bad. The pus was free flowing out from 2 points of my wound. Ben would later say, much to my horror, that it doesn't matter anyway since they would probably reopen my wound tomorrow when i go the hospital.
And so the pus came and came and came almost continuously for 3-4 hours. Use the toilet paper to clean whatever came out. Gosh, the smell was insane.
It started to settle a little around 10-11pm, no more continuous flow, just bursts off and on.

Went the hospital monday, to the surgical clinic. Waited quite a while for the doctor. Indian lady. She took a look at my wound, used a blade to cut roughly 5-6 stitches back open. (very scary stuff right? Didn't actually hurt that much). I was given a new antibiotic, taking the count to 3 in 2 weeks. Off to the nurse's office for dressing. And home it was.
Ben and sis came to change the dressing on tuesday night. I changed the gauze outside myself everyday since the pus was still oozing out from it. I was having fever now and then. Ben used a blade to open another few stitches again that day. (ouch again)
There was dried pus sticking to my flesh in the wound. Ben tried to remove it but couldn't, even with me bearing all the pain (no pain killers!). It was just too painful to do without proper tools.
So, i went to the hospital again on thursday, terrified about the pain i was going to feel when they attempt to remove the dried pus by scraping it off. Yes, that was the exact term they doctors were using. SCRAPING it off. You wouldn't have thought that they had some special term for medical use .. .. one that didn't sound so painful, heh.
Terrified, i was waiting for my turn for outside the nurse's office. Then Ben came, coincidentally, i think, the surgeon that did was operation was there was well. So for the first after the surgery, i see the person who cut me open. Ben told me that it was a chinese girl that did my surgery so i roughly knew who it was. Out of the many people, nurses and doctors and looked at my chart while i was waiting in the OT, i only remember one chinese, so it wasn't that difficult recalling. She was also the only one that spoke chinese to me. Heh. And she continued to do so now as well. Then i helped her out by saying, 'err .. .. you can speak english to me if you're more confortable'. And then she did. Yea, by now, i think i should mention that this surgeon of mine is .. .. .. .. very pretty.
Haha. And so she wanted to take a look at the wound. The wound was her work, should be normal things surgeons do, i guess. Anyway, looking at her eased the impending pain that was coming. Better than that, she gave me painkillers! She injected and started her scraping. No pain! Though i did see quite some blood coming out. She clean the wound later and dressed it.
The dressing they inserted to wound is the newer kind with nanotechnology and what not. Can last up to 3 days. So i didn't have to change the dressing everyday, just the stained gauze outside.

Then today (monday), i went the hospital again. Didn't see doctor tan though. It was just the surgical doctor on clinic duty. She looked at my wound, wanted to partially stitched it back. After cleaning, she had second thoughts and decide i should come back in a couple of days and see how it is then. So i was spared the pain today.
Also, Ben got me a photocopy of my operation report. Pretty cool, seeing something like this for the first time. There's a rough sketch of my intentines, diagnosis, procedure and plan and every.


So that's pretty much the story. I have a open wound near my hip. 8-9cm wide and 2-3cm deep. I actually haven't been able to see inside the wound myself. I'm just able to see the two pieces of seperated flesh.
2 weeks, usually, even for a perforated appendix, i should be already up and about. Unfortunately, due to the infected to the wound. I'm still in the recovery period. It happens with perforated appendix lo, your chances of wound infection is considerably higher than those not perforated. It may take up to another 2 weeks before i'm can go out again.. ..
Food-wise, i'm already back to solid food for about a week. According to western medicine, i can feast and eat all i want already, just be careful of constipation. However, yes there's a twist in the plot, TCM (traditional chinese medicine) says that there's a long list of food that i can't take. My mom's insistent. She says if i eat those things, i'll have pus flowing out again, itching and all the wind inside my stomach haunting me with pain for the rest of my life. So, currently, i don't take seafood and chicken. That's that. So guess what's on my craving list now - Roasted Chicken. It was torture when, during my bro's wedding dinner, the third dish they served came - roasted chicken. Argh, the smell was magnificent. Yet, i couldn't touch it.
Thus, the first thing i'm going to do when i completely recover, call my family and we all go to a restaurant for dinner. My treat. First on the menu will be - roasted chicken.
For some unknown reason, somewhere in that TCM cannot-eat-list is glutenous rice, meaning that i could eat bak-chang(肉粽) as well. Argh.


It blog entry has taken me 3-4 days. With the unruly computer that randomly restarts and randomly decides not to work, i guess that's what happens.
I started off with a tinge of resentment, to be honest. I was frustrated that i wasn't up and about yet. Basically, i was incarcerated. But, thankfully, i've moved past that (so i think) and am looking forward to the day i can eat roast chicken again. I've learn to live with wearing sarong for the past 2 weeks, I've heard to avoid sneezing. I'm taking the time reading books and all the usual stuff. This is my ultimate test of patience i guess. I don't know when i will be fully recovered. Word is that i can't do any exercise for 3months and lift heavy things.
I missed last weekend's class gathering plus dinner with the teachers. I haven't watched Ocean's 13, and i want to watch Hot Fuzz again on the big screen.

There are things that i am thankful:
i am thankful that i still manage to attend my bro's wedding.
i am thankful that i wasn't in singapore when my appendix perforated (think of all the trouble!! not to mention the cost)
i am thankful that i am still in my holidays and have sufficient time to recover (imagine the work i'd have to catch up if not)

Keeping the appendix perforation time fixed, it is a good thing that i didn't manage to get special term afterall, because my appendix was perforated the week they were having exams for special term1, so it's all a blessing in disguise that i wasn't allocated. Haha, walao, if i had got it, studied the whole term but missed the exam, lagi sien.
So, look at the positive spin on everything to stop yourself from sulking.
With the same reason, i would've missed the 女娲 trip to Taman Negara anyway. So.. .. too bad.
Same way, the trip to Pulau Redang i few of us were planning.


Here, i would like to apologize to the 女娲 people. 家诚 & 文琪 especially, for the last minute cancellation, personally i wouldn't mind rejoining as a SA and claiming the reported prize that 家诚 advertised on his msn, hehe. Sorry, i really want to join FOA. But with my current condition, must wonder how much i can participate. Apologies all around to Ziting, BaoJing (i thought of you when i was drinking ribena, haha), sijinn and the rest of the gang. Walao, now next year i'll be the forgotten senior.. .. .. i want to get to know the juniors leh. I want to be remembered, at least, known.


Wow, so bloody long. I guess the title long tale is quite aptly given eh? :D
Good also, just need to print and paste in my diary can liao, don't need to write.
The best thing to come after all this pain and everything?
I have one thing less to worry about.

If you have managed to read until here, either my writing must be extremely interesting, you were extremely bored with nothing to do, or you have extreme will-power. Either way, i salute you!


Friends, the next time you see me, give me a hug, won't you?