My Heart - Routine
I lost about 5 KG during my about 2 weeks stay at the Hospital, after the surgery. But that was to be expected.
I must have lost a lot of blood and fluid during the surgery with of course the Hospital replacing these during and after the surgery. And in the ICU I could not replenish my body content properly, what with all the drugs and the medicines and the inadequate food. On top of that they seemed to be taking tubes of my blood for analysis. So much blood had been taken away I lost count or could not count the no. of times they did them. The Nurses seemed to have come every so often to take my blood samples, like vampire they were. It was almost a routine which I dreaded.
When I was released from the ICU into the Ward again, Room 564, I was very weak - I thought I was stronger. As soon as they dunked me into another bed from the bed they wheeled me into the Room, I felt relieved and I wanted to relieve myself. I waited until all was quiet and I tried to get up. Well you know that hospital beds are those mechanical bed which in my case then was electrically (or was it hydraulically) operated where you press certain button and the head come up to about 80 deg (or about). Then only you try to maneuver yourself into a comfortable position either to sleep that way or to get up. Even then if you are helpless like I was you will need someone to adjust your head so that you are comfortably sit or lie up. At least I knew then how Christopher Reeves (Superman) felt like when he was made invalid after the riding accident. Anyway as I said I tried to get up on my own but I could not. I had to call for help. When I sat up my head swam and I almost blacked out. I tried to get on my feet but I could not, my feed did not respond as usually, I have not used them for 5 days now and they refused to respond to my command when wanting to stand up. I had a lot of difficulties to get them to operate normally, and with the help of my wife and a Nurse I managed to go step by step to the toilet. When sitting to relieve myself, it was a torture of the first kind, you probably know how it felt like to relieve yourself after 5 days of not relieving yourself, forced to into that condition and also medicated. Only air came out at first. It must have been about half an hour before anything solid happened and I was really exhausted from sitting there, from the pain in my chest, from my bottom and from not used to be up almost vertical like that. It was a real relief when the process was over, and I being helped back into bed.
The bed routine is something that most people will not understand unless her/she has undergone a major surgery. I think that heart bypass is a major surgery though by modern standard its a common surgery. In that Hospital they do more than 2 a day. And in the major hospitals in Malaysia they may do more than 10 a day and most survive unless the case was too close to the heart not functioning at all. Back to hospital beds, these hospital beds have two major buttons, one to call the Nurse and another to manipulate your bed, by manipulating I mean just to make the head and the feet go up and down to a comfortable level to you. And when you are ill no position is a comfortable position so you try to make the best of whatever bed position that you or your Nurse can make it to. I normally have the head just slightly raised and the feed just above horizontal. And every morning they ask you to get up, out of bed while they change the sheets and the pillow cases. I hated that when I have to do that. Luckily they do not scrub you in bed. And in the room there is a TV to keep you entertained but when you are ill who wants to be entertained. I never switched on the TV.
The routine of going to toilets goes on, and the torture while trying to relieve yourself is a continuos saga. And the pain in the chest when trying to cough is a drag, and you having to hug a small pillow while walking about makes you feel like a real invalid. And of course every so often they give you the meal menu asking you to fill them up, which I never did - but my wife did that for me. And when the food arrives, after they saw what my wife ordered, the food smelled terrible and I bet they must have tasted terrible. In fact I tried to taste some of them and I wondered where these Hospital cooks learn their cooking. They were the most unpalatable food you can ever imagine that ever you have tasted in your life. Probably I was too sick then to have good taste of any food. But I think I was not the only one thinking about how terrible the food was, even the Hospital staff whose condition of service includes free meal at the Hospital complained to me quietly about how terrible the Hospital food was. I tried to continue with having oatmeal but I could not take them anymore, they now tasted bland to me. So I had my wife bring me white rice and some salted snake head fish flesh - snake head fish seemed to be the traditional medical food after a surgery and I believed in that. I never touched the hospital food after that. And I had my wife also bring me apples and pears and dragon fruits for my desert. And I drank plain cold water. To me these were satisfactory enough. Of course many visitors brought a lot of other fruits in baskets but I dare not take them as I am a diabetic and I was under medication for being a diabetic.
The Doctors came once or twice to check on my progress and the Nurses came to give me medicines and to check on my bodily functions like blood pressure, temperature, heart beat and also glucose level. Nothing major and nothing of concern was detected. Once of twice they came to take tubeful of blood samples from me but not as much or as many times taken as I experienced in ICU.
I never bathed or showered after the surgery though the Doctors told me that I could shower. My wound is seemed have been sealed by a thin layer of compound and will not get wet. But I dare not take the risk. I have seen how wound gets wet, got infected and have to be dressed up daily. And they seemed to be suffering in the process. Daily the Physiotherapist came to bring me down for physiotherapy, where I had to learn to walk properly again, to do cycling, walking on a ramp and up and down steps/staircases. One day a Physiotherapist brought me out to an open yard and I felt so good to be out into the open and out of the air/cond building. I have wanted that. After that I looked forward to being discharged from the Hospital to be out, out of such cold air/cond hospital environment.
Again I must say that I have friends. Many came to visit me, from far and near, those I knew and those I just know, neighbours and relatives, came to see me and to wish me fast recovery. I enjoyed their company and I thank them for the visits. Some came many times, from the day I first entered the Hospital, to when I was in the ICU and now when I was recovering in the Room. These people make me feel worth the living.
I was supposed to be discharged the weekend after the 2nd Wednesday of my surgery but due to my having medications for diabetic, I could not be discharged. I waited until after the weekend, when all the hospital administration had been completed and on Monday the 3rd week of my surgery I was discharged and I went home. Still sick, still not fully recovered, still in pain, still groggy, still on medications but I was going home.
To shout back, e-mail: mylias@tm.net.my
I must have lost a lot of blood and fluid during the surgery with of course the Hospital replacing these during and after the surgery. And in the ICU I could not replenish my body content properly, what with all the drugs and the medicines and the inadequate food. On top of that they seemed to be taking tubes of my blood for analysis. So much blood had been taken away I lost count or could not count the no. of times they did them. The Nurses seemed to have come every so often to take my blood samples, like vampire they were. It was almost a routine which I dreaded.
When I was released from the ICU into the Ward again, Room 564, I was very weak - I thought I was stronger. As soon as they dunked me into another bed from the bed they wheeled me into the Room, I felt relieved and I wanted to relieve myself. I waited until all was quiet and I tried to get up. Well you know that hospital beds are those mechanical bed which in my case then was electrically (or was it hydraulically) operated where you press certain button and the head come up to about 80 deg (or about). Then only you try to maneuver yourself into a comfortable position either to sleep that way or to get up. Even then if you are helpless like I was you will need someone to adjust your head so that you are comfortably sit or lie up. At least I knew then how Christopher Reeves (Superman) felt like when he was made invalid after the riding accident. Anyway as I said I tried to get up on my own but I could not. I had to call for help. When I sat up my head swam and I almost blacked out. I tried to get on my feet but I could not, my feed did not respond as usually, I have not used them for 5 days now and they refused to respond to my command when wanting to stand up. I had a lot of difficulties to get them to operate normally, and with the help of my wife and a Nurse I managed to go step by step to the toilet. When sitting to relieve myself, it was a torture of the first kind, you probably know how it felt like to relieve yourself after 5 days of not relieving yourself, forced to into that condition and also medicated. Only air came out at first. It must have been about half an hour before anything solid happened and I was really exhausted from sitting there, from the pain in my chest, from my bottom and from not used to be up almost vertical like that. It was a real relief when the process was over, and I being helped back into bed.
The bed routine is something that most people will not understand unless her/she has undergone a major surgery. I think that heart bypass is a major surgery though by modern standard its a common surgery. In that Hospital they do more than 2 a day. And in the major hospitals in Malaysia they may do more than 10 a day and most survive unless the case was too close to the heart not functioning at all. Back to hospital beds, these hospital beds have two major buttons, one to call the Nurse and another to manipulate your bed, by manipulating I mean just to make the head and the feet go up and down to a comfortable level to you. And when you are ill no position is a comfortable position so you try to make the best of whatever bed position that you or your Nurse can make it to. I normally have the head just slightly raised and the feed just above horizontal. And every morning they ask you to get up, out of bed while they change the sheets and the pillow cases. I hated that when I have to do that. Luckily they do not scrub you in bed. And in the room there is a TV to keep you entertained but when you are ill who wants to be entertained. I never switched on the TV.
The routine of going to toilets goes on, and the torture while trying to relieve yourself is a continuos saga. And the pain in the chest when trying to cough is a drag, and you having to hug a small pillow while walking about makes you feel like a real invalid. And of course every so often they give you the meal menu asking you to fill them up, which I never did - but my wife did that for me. And when the food arrives, after they saw what my wife ordered, the food smelled terrible and I bet they must have tasted terrible. In fact I tried to taste some of them and I wondered where these Hospital cooks learn their cooking. They were the most unpalatable food you can ever imagine that ever you have tasted in your life. Probably I was too sick then to have good taste of any food. But I think I was not the only one thinking about how terrible the food was, even the Hospital staff whose condition of service includes free meal at the Hospital complained to me quietly about how terrible the Hospital food was. I tried to continue with having oatmeal but I could not take them anymore, they now tasted bland to me. So I had my wife bring me white rice and some salted snake head fish flesh - snake head fish seemed to be the traditional medical food after a surgery and I believed in that. I never touched the hospital food after that. And I had my wife also bring me apples and pears and dragon fruits for my desert. And I drank plain cold water. To me these were satisfactory enough. Of course many visitors brought a lot of other fruits in baskets but I dare not take them as I am a diabetic and I was under medication for being a diabetic.
The Doctors came once or twice to check on my progress and the Nurses came to give me medicines and to check on my bodily functions like blood pressure, temperature, heart beat and also glucose level. Nothing major and nothing of concern was detected. Once of twice they came to take tubeful of blood samples from me but not as much or as many times taken as I experienced in ICU.
I never bathed or showered after the surgery though the Doctors told me that I could shower. My wound is seemed have been sealed by a thin layer of compound and will not get wet. But I dare not take the risk. I have seen how wound gets wet, got infected and have to be dressed up daily. And they seemed to be suffering in the process. Daily the Physiotherapist came to bring me down for physiotherapy, where I had to learn to walk properly again, to do cycling, walking on a ramp and up and down steps/staircases. One day a Physiotherapist brought me out to an open yard and I felt so good to be out into the open and out of the air/cond building. I have wanted that. After that I looked forward to being discharged from the Hospital to be out, out of such cold air/cond hospital environment.
Again I must say that I have friends. Many came to visit me, from far and near, those I knew and those I just know, neighbours and relatives, came to see me and to wish me fast recovery. I enjoyed their company and I thank them for the visits. Some came many times, from the day I first entered the Hospital, to when I was in the ICU and now when I was recovering in the Room. These people make me feel worth the living.
I was supposed to be discharged the weekend after the 2nd Wednesday of my surgery but due to my having medications for diabetic, I could not be discharged. I waited until after the weekend, when all the hospital administration had been completed and on Monday the 3rd week of my surgery I was discharged and I went home. Still sick, still not fully recovered, still in pain, still groggy, still on medications but I was going home.
To shout back, e-mail: mylias@tm.net.my
To Shout Back
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