Pain...
It had been quite a while since I last wrote.
I had been too busy trying to complete my thesis and case reports, traveling from KL to up North almost every other week. The 6 hours journey on the bus was taxing, but had a lot of memories which will be blogged later (*that’s a promise*). Meetings with my Supervisor, correcting, printing, re-printing, errands at home, attending symposiums, workshops etc. took so much of my time and energy.
Last week that exertion really took a toll on my health. I was back to KL over the weekend to finally complete my thesis and submit to my Supervisor. I only had 5 hours of sleep within 2 days. I even corrected my case reports in the bus so as to save time.
Then attended a half day workshop, finished early but my friend asked me to accompany her to the mall. I just could not say no since she is one my best friends. So despite the headache and bodyache, I relented and we spent almost 2 hours going from one mall to another. When we got back, it was raining cats and dogs and we were both drenched. At home, I tried to catch some sleep but sis had a lot to talk about and we spent 2 hours chatting.
Last week that exertion really took a toll on my health. I was back to KL over the weekend to finally complete my thesis and submit to my Supervisor. I only had 5 hours of sleep within 2 days. I even corrected my case reports in the bus so as to save time.
Then attended a half day workshop, finished early but my friend asked me to accompany her to the mall. I just could not say no since she is one my best friends. So despite the headache and bodyache, I relented and we spent almost 2 hours going from one mall to another. When we got back, it was raining cats and dogs and we were both drenched. At home, I tried to catch some sleep but sis had a lot to talk about and we spent 2 hours chatting.
Aaaaahhhh… things that we do for people that matters.
By then it was time to travel back.
Slept throughout the journey, reached AS at the wee hours and managed to catch another hour of sleep. When I woke up, my whole body was aching, my ear hurt and I had a splitting headache. Paracetamol was my breakfast that morning…. and lunch….. and dinner.
The clinic was busy the whole day and I was on-call. Tried to swap with someone, but no one else was available. I already had 2 emergency operations scheduled that night and it was only 7pm. I was so stressed out and tired, I might be the one the anasthetist will be resuscitating in the OR instead of the patient. I prayed hard that the operations will be postponed till the next morning and the night will be a quite one.
I think God was kind to me. The operations were both postponed as they had a leaking aortic abdominal aneurysm (those of you who wanna know what AAA is.... no, not that Alcohol Anonymous thingie, google it) which will take all night, and I slept throughout the night without being disturbed. Even the ward was quiet without any complaints from the patients.
The next day the earache was worse, I had a fever, my head hurt, and my body was aching so bad I was practically dragging myself out of bed. Rushed to the ENT and voila! I had otitis media, a middle ear infection. Huh?? Where did that come from? But that explained my splitting headache. Perhaps from contaminated water that entered my ear during shower? Plus the stress that affected my immune system?
I was given the usual meds but that night the earache got so unbearable, I was crying in agony. Even worse than the migraines I usually had. The only painkiller I had was good ole’ Paracetamol. I was awake most of the night. When I fell asleep, I even dreamt that I was back to HUKM and was seeing my ENT colleagues there.
People say that you tend to dream about things that stress you out. But I just had a dream of making out with one of my exes last night… so how laaaa???? Maybe I was hallucinating with all those medications being pumped up into my system eh? Teehehehehe….
Anyways, back to the ENT I went the next day. They were surprised that I was back so soon. Probably thinking I was just looking for more mc, trying to get off work. But nope, my ear was more swollen than before. The Sofradex eardrop was just not working.
So my ear was cleaned by an instrument that was a minute version of a vacuum cleaner. Well, it sounded like one. It sucked out all the debris and almost my tympanic membrane too….. OOOOOOEEEEIIINNNGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!! Then an ear wick was stuffed into my ear so that the antibiotic stays within the canal. My left ear was totally blocked. I do feel like 'badak' for a while... as in 'pekak badak'.... geddit? geddit? Oh nevermind.....
Slept throughout the journey, reached AS at the wee hours and managed to catch another hour of sleep. When I woke up, my whole body was aching, my ear hurt and I had a splitting headache. Paracetamol was my breakfast that morning…. and lunch….. and dinner.
The clinic was busy the whole day and I was on-call. Tried to swap with someone, but no one else was available. I already had 2 emergency operations scheduled that night and it was only 7pm. I was so stressed out and tired, I might be the one the anasthetist will be resuscitating in the OR instead of the patient. I prayed hard that the operations will be postponed till the next morning and the night will be a quite one.
I think God was kind to me. The operations were both postponed as they had a leaking aortic abdominal aneurysm (those of you who wanna know what AAA is.... no, not that Alcohol Anonymous thingie, google it) which will take all night, and I slept throughout the night without being disturbed. Even the ward was quiet without any complaints from the patients.
The next day the earache was worse, I had a fever, my head hurt, and my body was aching so bad I was practically dragging myself out of bed. Rushed to the ENT and voila! I had otitis media, a middle ear infection. Huh?? Where did that come from? But that explained my splitting headache. Perhaps from contaminated water that entered my ear during shower? Plus the stress that affected my immune system?
I was given the usual meds but that night the earache got so unbearable, I was crying in agony. Even worse than the migraines I usually had. The only painkiller I had was good ole’ Paracetamol. I was awake most of the night. When I fell asleep, I even dreamt that I was back to HUKM and was seeing my ENT colleagues there.
People say that you tend to dream about things that stress you out. But I just had a dream of making out with one of my exes last night… so how laaaa???? Maybe I was hallucinating with all those medications being pumped up into my system eh? Teehehehehe….
Anyways, back to the ENT I went the next day. They were surprised that I was back so soon. Probably thinking I was just looking for more mc, trying to get off work. But nope, my ear was more swollen than before. The Sofradex eardrop was just not working.
So my ear was cleaned by an instrument that was a minute version of a vacuum cleaner. Well, it sounded like one. It sucked out all the debris and almost my tympanic membrane too….. OOOOOOEEEEIIINNNGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!! Then an ear wick was stuffed into my ear so that the antibiotic stays within the canal. My left ear was totally blocked. I do feel like 'badak' for a while... as in 'pekak badak'.... geddit? geddit? Oh nevermind.....
That evening, the pain was more tolerable but I think it was with the help of Voltaren. It is a strong painkiller. Anything stronger than that would be DF118 or morphine usually given to cancer patients.
Actually, I am still in pain while typing this. Yeah the pain is coming. It is startinggggg. Ouuucch…. Oooowwww….. AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!! The paaaiiinnnnnnn!!! The PAAAAAIIIIINNNNN!!!!
( I dunno why but suddenly the picture Fantasy Island came to mind, with Tatoo crying out... the planeeee.... the plaaannneeeeee!!!! Maybe they rhyme??)
posted by marina at 9:17 AM
