Monday, March 1, 2010

Pain Pain Pain

The day that I thought would scar my entire life, came and went and it definitely left a scar on me. I went for my surgery last week and it was not an experience that I would recommend anyone. Prevention is definitely better than cure anytime and any day.

So, about a month or so back, I began to get this lump on the right side of my neck every time I eat. I ignored it at first but it begun to hurt and it was getting worse. So after several medical tests, it was confirmed that I had a stone in my sub-mandibular duct. So surgery was planned.

Last Wednesday was my surgery and I was shit scared. Anything can happen during surgery no matter how good the doctor’s are especially when I’m going under General Anesthetics. Given my health complications, it’s a lot more hard and everyone needed to be more cautious on what is done to me. I also found out on that very morning, that I now have 2 stones that needs to be removed – one is 5mm in size and is deep inside closer to my saliva gland while the other is smaller and is closer to the mouth region. The doctor said that since he is putting me under G.A., that he will remove both so that it won’t be a problem later on.

I couldn’t eat that entire morning while I was being prepped for surgery. At 12 noon, the nurse comes into my room and gives me a robe to change into and after that she gave me a shot to relax my muscles. Then I was carted to the Operation Theatre.

I was beginning to get a little drowsy at this point but still conscious to feel pain. Once I was in the operating room, the anesthetic greeted me and this was when I got frightened coz it was a young Malay fellow. I asked him what happened to the other Chinese anesthetic and as I said that, Dr. Lee walked in and ensured me that everything is fine. They inserted the line into the vein on my left hand and then hell begun. They injected something that made me scream and tears started rolling out from my eyes. I vaguely remember yelling at that young fellow saying that something like “What the f%#k dude!!! Get someone who knows what they are doing!!” Then Dr. Lee took over and I was out after that.

When I came to, all I remember was that there were voices in my room but I couldn’t open my eyes due to all the drugs I was being fed. Mom told me that the surgery took 3 hours and I came out of the drugs around 8pm. It was nice to open my eyes to some guests in my room. I was in the hospital for 2 days for observation. My neck hurts but the pain killers were there to help minimize the pain.

Now, am at my brother’s place resting and recovering. The bandage around my neck is still there and the doctor said that he will remove it one week after my discharge date which is this coming Thursday. It’s hard to sleep coz it hurts real badly. I can’t move my neck much coz its sore in all places. I have to sleep straight facing up all night and can’t move much. Eating is troublesome coz it hurts when I chew. Every time I swallow, it hurts. Every time I cough it hurts. Every time I laugh it hurts. Every time I sneeze it hurts. Pretty much everything that I do, it hurts. According to my parents, because the surgery included cutting of some nerves and veins, healing will take some time.

It ain’t fun being in this position really. Life becomes so tough. I can’t go to work. I’m gonna have a scar on my neck. And it’s gonna take about a month or so for me to fully recover and heal and lead a normal life again. I must drink at least 10 glasses of water every day. I must control my alcohol intake because it is one of the causes of stone formation in the saliva gland.

And because I live alone and have no one at home to look after me, I’m staying with my brother and his family. The doctor said that I can’t do any hard work during my recovery so my brother and his wife and their maid pretty much handle everything for me and all I do is sit and watch movies all day.

2 comments:

JoTHebLur said...

The pain and all sounds bad but the living at home with people doing everything for you and all you do is watch movies - that sounds really good. Wish I can do just that.

Joyce said...

wow... hope you have fully recovered... =)