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Showing posts from May, 2017

Where I did my operation?

So a few people have been asking me where I did my operation and who my surgeon is. I did my operation at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital. It is a government hospital that was founded in 1870. But don't worry the hospital doesn't look old as it has been refurbished a couple of times since then. One thing for sure, this is a big HUGE hospital. My surgeon is Dato Dr Fazir, I didn't manage to take a picture with him while I was in the hospital but I certainly will when I go for my next appointment again. He is a very caring and patient doctor. Prior to my operation, he answered all my questions without any hesitation and was not impatient at all. These are the kind of doctors that make me feel really comfortable and that's why I had no issue with him doing my operation at all. I sought many opinions from a lot of people before I finally settled and decided to get my operation done with Dr Fazir. (I'll save the story about the previous 3 surgeons that I've visit for a

Post op - Two weeks!

22/5/2017 Finally the day has come that showering is no longer a chore! I can finally enjoy my long showers again. Although I still have to sit down and take a shower but I'll slowly get to standing up to shower. Right now I can't stand up and lift my leg up to clean it so I still have to sit down while in the shower. Luckily I'm pretty flexible so I can just fold my leg on top of the other and wash it. Today was also the first time I walked outside of my house. Didn't manage to walk very far as my back was still hurting a little but it is the furthest I've walked since my operation. I'm definitely feeling much better now. My back doesn't ache as much and I don't get tired so easily anymore. <3 Cai Lin PS: My hips are still numb, but it is slowly subsiding. 

Post Op Day 8 -13

16/5/2017 - Day 8 Walking around the house a bit funnily cause of my groin pain. Still don't understand how I managed to pull my groin. Oh well! Meals time are getting more enjoyable since I'm able to finish my meals in one sitting. 17/5/2017 - Day 9 Some of my friends came over to visit me. Had so much to catch up and laugh about. Although I had to lie down the whole time, but at least now I know that I am able to entertain my guests for about 3 hours compared to earlier on where it was only about 30 mins before I started to doze off. 18/5/2017 - Day 10 If you have every pulled your groin, you would know that it can be hell when you're sitting and standing up. Walk wasn't that big of a deal compared to sitting. Some times I'd get a bit stuck at the dining table because I'd be trying to find a suitable position to stand up without getting any pain. The pain I felt when I sat or stood up felt like I was getting electrocuted or something. But at least

Post op - One week!

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15/5/2017 Today was the first time I was able to sit through lunch and dinner without having to take a break! I was so happy to be able to do this. My appetite isn't as great as it used to be pre-op but it has definitely gotten better since coming home from the hospital.  Everyday I feel slightly better than the day before. Still walking at turtle speed but I'm sure in no time I will be back to normal.  Remember how in my previous post I said that my left groin was feeling a bit funny? Well yea, I strained it. How on earth did I managed to even do that when I'm doing everything at turtle speed? Only one thought that came to my mind, compensation. Especially when I'm standing up. I'm not too sure if I'm leaning to one side more than the other when I get up, but I suspect I do, if not this strain wouldn't happen.  Just thinking about it makes me laugh. I've been training competitively for the last 14 years but I've never once pul

Post op Day 6

14/5/2017 Woke up feeling quite tired as I didn't really have a good night's sleep. It was hard to find a comfortable position to sleep in for long and my back cramped up pretty easily. My appetite is getting a lot better but I'm still unable to sit down to finish my meals in one sitting. The good thing is that I didn't have to take naps in between anymore/take 3 hrs to finish my lunch! Lol. For some reason, my left groin started to feel a bit funny when I walk/get up. Its that kind of feeling where you want to crack your bones but you can't. Ever had that feeling? <3 Cai Lin

Post op Day 5

13/5/2017 The doctors came in the morning around 830am for their routine check up. She said that it's up to me if I wanted to go home today or stay another day so they can monitor my tummy ache. Of course I would choose to go home! Lol. A week in the hospital is starting to push it a little bit. The doctor just laughed and said that she'll arrange for me to be discharged and have my medication ready. Not sure what happened or why it took so long but I finally left the hospital just after 4pm. The ride home wasn't easy. There was no pain but I couldn't find a suitable position to be in. Luckily there was no traffic and we got home in half an hour. It was SO GOOD TO BE HOME! It was so good to see my dog again but the saddest thing for me is that (till today) I can't pick him up like I used to (I can't pick him up cause I'm not suppose to bend forward or carry anything heavy for the next 6 months). A quick change of clothes later and I was in need of a

Post op Day 4

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12/5/2017 Finally took a shower! Wow, was that tiring. When did showering ever get so tiring? So glad to get my hair shampooed and cleaned. Didn't have anything left after that to brush my teeth and I had to quickly go back to my bed to lie down. [On another brighter note, I'm not constipated anymore!!! It happened at 345am (yes, another ungodly hour) but who cares! As long as I'm not constipated anymore. Didn't feel that my tummy was 100% better but at least the discomfort slowly went away throughout the day.] Felt a bit nausea after my shower so the nurse gave me some medicine to stop me from vomiting. My surgeon came in to see me around 830am and was really happy with the result of my x-ray! Honestly, I was really impressed by it too. My spine looks amazing!!! 😍 Yup! That's my spine before (65 degree thoracic) and after surgery. My surgeon said that I could either be discharged on Saturday or Sunday, depending on how my tummy feels. The sound of the

Post op Day 3

11/5/2017 Still constipated -.- This is the worst feeling ever. I've never been constipated in my life before. Yes, you read it right, never. My whole belly was so bloated and hard and it was causing so much discomfort for me. The nurse came in with a wheelchair after I had breakfast and told me I need to go down for a post op x-ray. The x-ray department isn't that far away from my ward but it sure was a journey going there after my operation. By the time my name was called for the x-ray I was so exhausted already. The worst thing was the girl said I couldn't get the x-ray done because my period was late. Nearly out of breath I told her that I have taken 5 x-rays in the pass one week and no one had an issue with it. She told her boss but he still said that I needed to take a urine test to make sure I'm not pregnant and because I was an in patient, I had to go back to the ward to do the urine test instead of getting one done at the x-ray department itself. I was so

Post op Day 2

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10/5/2017 Wesak day! It was also the day that the nurse walked into my room at 715am and announced that I was going to sit up today. I didn't feel too comfortable with the idea so I told her 'maybe later today' and she said 'nope, you're going to sit up now'. She literally came to my bed side, helped me roll over, positioned my arms and legs properly and said 'from now on you're going to get up like that okay? Now use your arms and push your body up!' I was surprised to find that I didn't have any energy to push myself up at all. My body felt like a dead weight and just didn't want to move but the nurse managed to get me to sit up and sitting up straight as a ruler I was! I sat up real straight. Too stunned to move. I don't know if I was stunned cause the nurse got me up so fast or what it was. I was staring straight at my sis and her back at me and she kept asking if I was okay. I didn't know if I felt okay in this new body. It

Post op Day 1

9/5/2017 At the hospital, I usually start my day, or rather I have no choice, at 5am. 5am - A nurse will come and give me a couple of injections. I know one of them would be my antibiotics but I'm not sure what the rest were. 515am -  Another nurse comes in to takes blood pressure and give me a new set of clothes to wear. 530am - A nurse came to tell my sister to sponge me but don't roll me over as they will do that later after my sis is done sponging me. 6am - Someone came and took my blood. 715am - A group of nurses will come into the room and wake everyone up! Oh.my.god. At that time I'm just like 'please leave me alone'. But I must say that the nurses are a good and happy bunch. They are always so cheerful. They'll change everyone's bed sheet and make the beds and draw all the curtains before heading out again. 730am - A group of nurses came in, rolled me on my side and wiped my back. Felt a bit uncomfortable but wasn't in pain. 8am

Operation Day

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8th of May, a day to remember for me. Just before I went to bed the night before, the nurse came to give me an injection to avoid throwing up the next day. Slept relatively well after that. The next morning, the nurse came and woke me up at 545am! What an ungodly hour. I told her that I've set my alarm at 645am because they will only be rolling me in at 730am but the nurse just continued to say that I can wake up now and start getting ready. Fine, I got up then. My family arrived just in time after I got dressed and showered. Surprisingly I was relatively calm about the whole thing. Then at 730am, the nurses rolled the OT bed to my room. As I lied down on the bed, they took my blood pressure and gave me two pills; one for gastric and one to relax and another injection to prevent throwing up. As the nurse started to wheel me to the OT, I started crying. Luckily my family was there to comfort me and just kept telling me to breath in and out and that everything will be alright. T

Hospital check in

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Friday, 5th of May. I woke up not feeling right. Next thing, I rushed to the toilet to throw up. What an experience just before I check into the hospital right? After that I got stuck in traffic for more than an hour. Finally got to the hospital and got my registration done. The nurse said to have my breakfast first before I check into the ward. Didn't have much of an appetite still but I managed to eat a slice of toast. Went up to the ward and the nurses showed me to my 4 bedded room. After that they came back to brief me about the operation, visiting hours, who's going to be taking care of me after my operation, if I understood what the operation was about and took my blood.  Green is the new color. NOT! Anyway, do you like my 'fruit juice box' toe socks? It even has nutrition value at the 'back' of the 'box'! Lunch came and I still didn't have any appetite to eat. Only ate 1/4 of the rice and a bit of cabbage. Somehow I was the

Pilates

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Recently, I started going for pilates at Pilatique Pilates . I've done pilates once before but never went back because I was always too tired after training and if I wasn't training, the only thing I wanted to do was rest or sleep. So, how has my pilates classes gone? AWESOME! I managed to get the 5 basic principles from the foundation of Stott Pilates done in 2 classes instead of 4. My instructor-trainer, Nanthini, said I have very good body awareness that's why I'm able to follow the class quite quickly. But to me, there's a lot more body awareness that I need to learn about. Breathing and body posture are the two main things that I will be focusing from now on. Doing my exercises on the reformer. Looks easy but there was a million things I had to think about when doing this exercise. Definitely more thinking involved in pilates compared to swimming. 😅 The 5 basic principles are breathing, pelvic placement, rib cage placement, scapular placement and h