The "fall" - part 1
The "fall" - part 1
In the Bible, we have the "fall of man" recorded in Genesis 3, and here in this blog I'll be recording about my FALL - in the literal sense of the word ...
I'm actually typing with 1 hand which is really frustrating, coz there's no spell check facility in this blog, so I might really get lots of spelling mistakes and errors. Pardon me k ...
Well, what happened was on Thursday morning when I was about to leave home for class, I wanted to take something from my study room (which is behind the kitchen just outside the common toilet). The floor was wet as my mum had just mopped it - due to the dirt left by Toby who came into the house for the night. The tiles were extremely slippery when it come into contact with water, so my mum had actually wanted to warn me about it, but was spilt seconds late ... and you knew what happened next, don't you? When I slipped forward, I instantly used my left elbow to break the fall, and I could immediately feel the swelling and dislocation of the elbow. For the next moments, I was totally in pain ...
My mum had to wake my sis up (fortunately she was not outstation during this time) and had me sent to SGH A&E immediately - which was also upon the advice of AA/WT when I called to check for recommendations of GP or hospital. I also had to call a few of my classmates to keep them informed so that they can tell the lecturers for me. Thanks to all of them who had loan a helping hand in one way or another during this state of mine.
Reached SGH A&E around 8am and got to see doctor at around 8.30am, and was sent for x-ray, and later to the A&E ortheopaedic, and was told the fracture was quite bad that a surgery would be needed to fix back the injury - otherwise, the muscle would keep pulling the fracture of my elbow downwards and I would never experience complete healing to my elbow. I was really SCARED when I'm told about the surgery needed. All my life I've never veen warded into hospital or been under any knife, and this time there seemed no escape for me ... =(
Anyway, I told mum and sis to leave first coz all the waiting is endless and perpetual. I waited till around 11.30am and finally got wheeled to the ward/bed. It felt really "funny" as I had wanted to walk on my own (I didn't like the idea of being overly dependent on people or being waited upon by others) but the potter refused to allow me. So I ended up chatting with him and he shared with me how much distance they have to cover each day as part of their job, ferrying patients from places to places, etc.
The nurses in the ward were really friendly and helpful, which makes the stay "pleasant". Later a doctor came and poke me to draw blood for testing and to put me on drip (wasn't allowed food before any surgery) and that was painful. I felt the hole that was forcibly pricked was more painful than the elbow pain, haha. And of course I was "envious" seeing all my neighbours eating and enjoying their lunch. Tried to read the newspaper sis left for me but can't at all coz my left hand was bandaged, my right hand was on drip - I can't even hold the phone to my ears, the poke was really painful!! Fortunately I could still sms my sis to inform her of my whereabouts. And as the wait for the surgery gets longer and longer, I texted MS who worked just opposite SGH. She came immediately to visit me, prayed with me and shared her experience with me, warning me also about the effects GA will have on me, and how the whole surgery will just be like a "dream" coz I wouldn't even know it had happened when under GA.
Waited and waited ... 3pm ... 4pm ... 5pm ... and it gets more and more boring, being unable to do anything at all. Later after class, some classmates came over and that at least brought me some cheer, and of course eldest sis and bro-in-law, sis and mum, AA/WT also came. By 9pm, I was almost dying of starvation, but still ... CAN'T EAT!!! Sigh, had to persuade myself to sleep with an empty stomach. It was only about 9.45pm or so that I was told I'll be wheeled in (FINALLY!!) to be "slaughtered". I messaged a number of friends/family members to inform the about it before surrendering my phone to the nurses for safe-keeping, and off I went ... to be cut up ... haha.
The journey on the metal bed to the OT was SCARY - feels so icy cold and frightening. In the quietness of the night, the only piercing and visible sound was the sound of the wheels and the footsteps of the potter - really frightening. Finally, I got wheeled into the theatre, which doesn't look like what I saw on TV serials at all =) I didn't have to wait for too long, quite immediately I was wheeled in for surgery. The GA specialist explained to me that he will later inject some GA into me so that I'm aware of what's going to happen. Finally, in the OT room, I could hear music in the background and that made me feel that the OT wasn't that an icy-cold place afterall =). The team then hooked me to the heartbeat monitoring machine, put me on oxygen mask, and injected GA into me. The next thing I knew - the light above me was so clear in my first blink ... became blurry on my second blink ... and I'm a goner when I blink my third ... and I'm back in my ward after that with nurses trying to wake me up and speak to me, when what I felt was super tireness and "What?? OK ... Ya ..." and I slept again ...
The next morning my surgeon came and told me that he had to insert a metal plate instead of wire pieces as the smash in the bones were quite bad, worse than it was reflected in the x-ray. Anyway, it didn't matter to me what had been done since the surgery was over. I just felt super nauseous from the effects of GA - I can't drink at all, before it reaches down my throat I would have felt a "force" pushing it back out again, and I was just super tired, just wanted to sleep and sleep (even now I get tired easily - think the residual effects of GA is still in me, I can't do much for much, but I'll try to finish what I need to blog here ... struggling ...) I had to ask for porridge for lunch though I haven't had the slightest appetite at all (amusing right, to imagine I was almost dying of starvation the night before, and now I don't even feel like eating ...), I just rembered I ate one mouthful and was lying down to sleep again the next instant - it was just that tiring and that un-appetizing.
Friends came by in the evening and I had to struggle to keep myself awake and to make sure my position don't cause the nauseous feeling to happen again ...
Anyway, to cut the story short (I'm really sleepy and tired already ...) I was discharged yesterday afternoon and just slept through both days ... and still, TIRED!!!
I had learnt many lessons and many things to give thanks for, but I can't write anymore ... will try writing when I'm in better spirit. Thanks for praying and the love and concern that I've felt from a number of you ...
In the Bible, we have the "fall of man" recorded in Genesis 3, and here in this blog I'll be recording about my FALL - in the literal sense of the word ...
I'm actually typing with 1 hand which is really frustrating, coz there's no spell check facility in this blog, so I might really get lots of spelling mistakes and errors. Pardon me k ...
Well, what happened was on Thursday morning when I was about to leave home for class, I wanted to take something from my study room (which is behind the kitchen just outside the common toilet). The floor was wet as my mum had just mopped it - due to the dirt left by Toby who came into the house for the night. The tiles were extremely slippery when it come into contact with water, so my mum had actually wanted to warn me about it, but was spilt seconds late ... and you knew what happened next, don't you? When I slipped forward, I instantly used my left elbow to break the fall, and I could immediately feel the swelling and dislocation of the elbow. For the next moments, I was totally in pain ...
My mum had to wake my sis up (fortunately she was not outstation during this time) and had me sent to SGH A&E immediately - which was also upon the advice of AA/WT when I called to check for recommendations of GP or hospital. I also had to call a few of my classmates to keep them informed so that they can tell the lecturers for me. Thanks to all of them who had loan a helping hand in one way or another during this state of mine.
Reached SGH A&E around 8am and got to see doctor at around 8.30am, and was sent for x-ray, and later to the A&E ortheopaedic, and was told the fracture was quite bad that a surgery would be needed to fix back the injury - otherwise, the muscle would keep pulling the fracture of my elbow downwards and I would never experience complete healing to my elbow. I was really SCARED when I'm told about the surgery needed. All my life I've never veen warded into hospital or been under any knife, and this time there seemed no escape for me ... =(
Anyway, I told mum and sis to leave first coz all the waiting is endless and perpetual. I waited till around 11.30am and finally got wheeled to the ward/bed. It felt really "funny" as I had wanted to walk on my own (I didn't like the idea of being overly dependent on people or being waited upon by others) but the potter refused to allow me. So I ended up chatting with him and he shared with me how much distance they have to cover each day as part of their job, ferrying patients from places to places, etc.
The nurses in the ward were really friendly and helpful, which makes the stay "pleasant". Later a doctor came and poke me to draw blood for testing and to put me on drip (wasn't allowed food before any surgery) and that was painful. I felt the hole that was forcibly pricked was more painful than the elbow pain, haha. And of course I was "envious" seeing all my neighbours eating and enjoying their lunch. Tried to read the newspaper sis left for me but can't at all coz my left hand was bandaged, my right hand was on drip - I can't even hold the phone to my ears, the poke was really painful!! Fortunately I could still sms my sis to inform her of my whereabouts. And as the wait for the surgery gets longer and longer, I texted MS who worked just opposite SGH. She came immediately to visit me, prayed with me and shared her experience with me, warning me also about the effects GA will have on me, and how the whole surgery will just be like a "dream" coz I wouldn't even know it had happened when under GA.
Waited and waited ... 3pm ... 4pm ... 5pm ... and it gets more and more boring, being unable to do anything at all. Later after class, some classmates came over and that at least brought me some cheer, and of course eldest sis and bro-in-law, sis and mum, AA/WT also came. By 9pm, I was almost dying of starvation, but still ... CAN'T EAT!!! Sigh, had to persuade myself to sleep with an empty stomach. It was only about 9.45pm or so that I was told I'll be wheeled in (FINALLY!!) to be "slaughtered". I messaged a number of friends/family members to inform the about it before surrendering my phone to the nurses for safe-keeping, and off I went ... to be cut up ... haha.
The journey on the metal bed to the OT was SCARY - feels so icy cold and frightening. In the quietness of the night, the only piercing and visible sound was the sound of the wheels and the footsteps of the potter - really frightening. Finally, I got wheeled into the theatre, which doesn't look like what I saw on TV serials at all =) I didn't have to wait for too long, quite immediately I was wheeled in for surgery. The GA specialist explained to me that he will later inject some GA into me so that I'm aware of what's going to happen. Finally, in the OT room, I could hear music in the background and that made me feel that the OT wasn't that an icy-cold place afterall =). The team then hooked me to the heartbeat monitoring machine, put me on oxygen mask, and injected GA into me. The next thing I knew - the light above me was so clear in my first blink ... became blurry on my second blink ... and I'm a goner when I blink my third ... and I'm back in my ward after that with nurses trying to wake me up and speak to me, when what I felt was super tireness and "What?? OK ... Ya ..." and I slept again ...
The next morning my surgeon came and told me that he had to insert a metal plate instead of wire pieces as the smash in the bones were quite bad, worse than it was reflected in the x-ray. Anyway, it didn't matter to me what had been done since the surgery was over. I just felt super nauseous from the effects of GA - I can't drink at all, before it reaches down my throat I would have felt a "force" pushing it back out again, and I was just super tired, just wanted to sleep and sleep (even now I get tired easily - think the residual effects of GA is still in me, I can't do much for much, but I'll try to finish what I need to blog here ... struggling ...) I had to ask for porridge for lunch though I haven't had the slightest appetite at all (amusing right, to imagine I was almost dying of starvation the night before, and now I don't even feel like eating ...), I just rembered I ate one mouthful and was lying down to sleep again the next instant - it was just that tiring and that un-appetizing.
Friends came by in the evening and I had to struggle to keep myself awake and to make sure my position don't cause the nauseous feeling to happen again ...
Anyway, to cut the story short (I'm really sleepy and tired already ...) I was discharged yesterday afternoon and just slept through both days ... and still, TIRED!!!
I had learnt many lessons and many things to give thanks for, but I can't write anymore ... will try writing when I'm in better spirit. Thanks for praying and the love and concern that I've felt from a number of you ...
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