Nothing to do. How about peeling off those dried blood? Fingers very itchy neh. They came off pretty easily. Chey can remove long ago lor. So crispy.
Was told that my transfer to Ward 1 has been confirmed to be tomorrow afternoon. Hooray!
I had to take a chest X-ray now as part of the clearance. Hurriedly, I closed the tablet's jacket and asked if I could bring it with me. As well as my phone. The nurse offered to keep them in their safe for me. Hmm ok. I put on my back brace and off I went in the horrid wheelchair.
I took the opportunity to check out my surroundings. There was a room that was quite spacious with only 1 bed. That must be the legendary Class A ward. Spied the same nurse taking care of me inside. So, resources (read: nurses) are still shared lah. The only difference is the privacy (none to speak of when the door is wide open, like now). I doubted those walls provided effective sound insulation. Verdict: Save your money.
The wait at the X-ray was so long that the discomfort was turning excruciating. I was contemplating requesting to go first... but I didn't look like the most needy around. A few others in the same boat as me. Not easy to get attention too as I was sent down by a chaperone (someone who sends a patient to a destination, fullstop, no babysitting during the wait) and movement was restricted. SIGH. After waiting for nearly 2hrs, it was the dreaded noon. I hope the ALL the radiologists would clear the morning backlog before going off for lunch.
Finally my turn. How were they going to do this? Fortunately, it could all be done sitting in the wheelchair. Just that there was no bed to put the back brace back on properly. Ah heck it, I'm so going back to bed! Just not immediately, because I still had to wait for a chaperone to pick me up.
My darlings were back in my hands. So delighted to see them so well-treated - wrapped in plastic secured with scotch tape, labeled with my name and bed! Wa no need lah!
By now, my parents who were usually late for lunch, were already here. The nurse informed me that the physiotherapist was waiting for me. Err lunch first can?
The physiotherapist (normal-looking guy, no more handsome) pushed in a huge machine. My parents, to whom time is always so precious, even stayed to watch.
What was he gonna do to me?
This was an Arjo walker. The physiotherapist was going to strap me onto it and make me walk. Ok let's do it. While I was sitting in the wheelchair, he put some straps around my thighs. My arms were placed on the grey, cushioned support. Then I was asked to stand from there. Eh... Not possible, even before the surgery. Next, he tried to support me on one of my arms, but of course that didn't work too. He enlisted the help of my father to help with my other arm. And with great difficulty, they got me standing. Now, I could use my arms to help support myself, although that wasn't enough on my own. Remaining standing was HARD as I kept buckling backwards.
The physiotherapist sat me down so that I could take a rest. Then stand again >.< Forgot how many times I did the sit and stand before he asked me to take a few steps. Tough work keeping my upper torso upright! Ok the end. Why did the legs exercise feel tougher on my arms? Sore! It was super late in the afternoon already, 4 soon I think? My parents were just going home to cook and be back again. With the tablet, came long wires. The socket extension was back in business (did I mention that I had them before the surgery?). One for my phone, one for my tablet. Still got spare slot for the hospital somemore. Happy that the staff didn't stop me like in Kay Kay Hospital. A local staff nurse (a rare breed) and another younger nurse helped me change my dressing. I was a live specimen again. My wound was considered to be healing well. I was entering the itchy wound phase and thus greatly welcomed the
I decided to spend my afternoon surfing the net, but pretty soon, I didn't know what came over me, but I felt tremendously sleepy. Even the attractions of the WWW failed to keep me going. Had to take a nap, bbl.
In the evening, the rehab doctor came to see me as usual. She informed me that I was running a slight temperature (ooo I guessed that explained the sudden lethargy) and hence, they might be unable to transfer me tomorrow.
WHUTTT!!
But since my temperature was really only slightly elevated, they would continue to monitor me. If my temperature would come down "in time", we could still proceed as planned.
A young doctor came with an even younger doctor to ask to perform an assessment on me. What for? Aiyah whatever.
"Ok."
The younger doctor started doing the usual tests for movement while the other guy just sat at the side timing him with a stopwatch. So, I have become a test subject without being informed. The assessment was for the doctor, not me! Sneaky public hospitals! Could tell the younger doctor was quite noob from the lack of authority in his voice and short pauses as if he was recalling the next step. Help him lor, by being very cooperative and not complaining should he hurt me.
When everything was done, the young doctor looked at his stopwatch and recorded something in his clipboard. Without telling me the outcome of the assessment, they thanked me and left. Damn, they didn't even try to hide the fact that I was a guinea pig!
What a busy evening! Next was the bladder scan, which I cleared with flying colours again. Swabbed me with those long cotton buds. Really, must we do this before every transfer?
And not forgetting the blood test also. Gosh this time was the hardest. The nurse tried but failed, so she called the doctor. I think it was a HO who came. Tried the same spot on the other arm but failed.
Next, yandao MO. He examined my arm and decided to try the fourth finger on my right hand?! That's new. So why not the pretty, bulging vein at the back of my palm? According to him, it was because there wasn't a long enough stretch of straight vein for the needle. Huh really meh... last time Kay Kay Hospital stuck a cannula there for so long wor... He said as a last resort, they could draw from my foot, which would be painful. I thought I heard something about DRIPPING the blood O_O Or maybe they should do it already, considering the number of needle pricks I had suffered.
Got new pattern. He stuck a needle with a butterfly clip, which had a (unnecessarily) long, thin tube that drained into a tube. Very carefully, he inserted the needle into that tiny vein, squeezed the clip and watched my blood go! And fizzle out after barely filling the tube. FAIL. The vein had collapsed. He removed everything and dumped them into the bio-hazard bin. Hey there might be enough if you would drain that long, thin tube!
Yandao MO apologized and went to get off to get help. He returned with another doctor, not sure his seniority though. It took both of them to draw blood from (forget where) my forearm. Plasters +4. Bruised finger.
NO MORE company health checkups for me. No confidence those guys can handle me.
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