Sotong.Bored

Got to sleep till about 8am and I had to wake up because everybody else was up -_-. Brushed up and breakfast was served. Breakfast in bed, envy me! Ya right.

Dr L had instructed the nurse to monitor my blood glucose, so they were going to prick my finger before and after each meal. First prick, didn't think much of it. Wasn't THAT painful... My levels should be ok since the nurses didn't say anything.

3 pieces of bread, margarine (I thought that's like the worst lot of the fats?), jam, scrambled eggs, forgot if there was ham, and of course Milo. Diluted Milo. That's a lot for breakfast. I let Mother have the bread. The remainder was more than enough for me.

I was told to stop eating my own calcium tablets since the hospital would supply me. Er ok, I hope I didn't have to pay for it!

After breakfast, the nurse asked if I wanted to shower. Later! Will DIY. Pricked finger again. A bit itchy after that.

Nothing to do liao. Surf net lor. I had nearly forgotten what I was here for until the nurse reminded me. They were going to put me on traction after lunch. As such, I would be confined to bed. Sounded bad.

The physiotherapist came to do her rounds. She's an angmoh who looked like Nicole Kidman.

Very tall too. She's here to see what I could do and also to teach me some exercises I could do after the surgery. Like how to cough (hmm) and some limb exercises.

Prick!

Lunch was rice with a slice of fish fillet with a few strands of vegetables. The fish and vegetables were decent, but the rice cannot make it. Too dry! The soup was the worst, just water with a hint of salt. Fruits were salted - biggest booboo. So depressing! But it was all mitigated when Brother dropped by with something nice... couldn't remember what though!

While going to the toilet at the end of the ward, I noticed that there were actually beds of other classes further down. I spotted a single bed in a room. The room looked quite lok kok like the rest of the ward. So, apart from having a big room to yourself, you are sharing the nurses too? So much for class A. Save the money man.

Prick!

Dr L told me that he was going to give me a BMP to aid in bone healing. The trouble was it was approved by FDA but not yet in Singapore (?), hence not subsidized. It would set me back by $8000 (?) per pop and due to the long length of spine to be operated on, I might need 3 doses.

WHAT! Stunned. What kind of bone promoter was that? For consuming or injecting? Then I read somewhere that it has an extremely short half-life of a few minutes, so I guessed it's probably going to be implanted.

A young doctor came to interview me. O well, the usual stuff. Your brief history of time, testing your strength. Fine with that. Public hospital what.

A group of nurses came with lots of gadgets and bandages. Uh oh time for the traction thing! Of course, most of the nurses were trainees. Specimen-time again. My calves and head were strapped up and rendered immobile, with weights dangling from the ends. Oh, I even got a u-squeeze to aid in blood circulation. Well it's some calf wrap that you connect to an air pump. They even setup an overhead grab bar for me to lift myself up when I needed to use the bedpan. Ya... not allowed to go toilet also lor. Not that I had the ability to utilize it, but since they brought it all the way here, just let them setup lah. My only reprieve would be during meals, where my head would be released. Got to sleep in it too.

So the nurses were done and gone. Me? Ok ley, no excruciating discomfort as forewarned. I didn't feel stretched at all. Although I looked like a multiple fractures patient. I had imagined it to be some 满清酷刑, pulled in all directions like 五马分尸, but now I just felt like I was lying flatter than usual on the bed. Did they attach enough weights? I can take more. Seriously. Arms still free to use tablet, yay.

G came to visit me in the evening. Haven't seen her in 10 years I think? So nice to see her again. We were wondering what that yellow plastic bag stuck on my side rail was for.

Another doctor came to interview me. Same few questions. This time, I was dissed. I don't mind helping, but not before I gave this poor, innocent doctor a piece of my mind, nicely of course. Why must they come one by one? Cannot come together is it? I don't want to repeat the same thing over and over again. Ok now you can proceed. Haha poor thing, still double confirm if I was really ok.

There might be some secret student rivalry going on. The kiasu doctor would come and disturb patients to get ahead of their peers.

Prick! 5^th time today and my finger was crumpled already! Shall ask them to change finger next time.

Dinner.

Prick! What a prick that blood glucose test was! Very normal lah, can stop already!

Sister's turn to camp tonight. Before Mother left, she made me wear an amulet that would supposedly protect me from evils in an infested area such as a hospital. And it's so precious and holy that I had to take extreme care of it. Wtf.