Read the first part of the story here >>>>*click me*
Monday January
12th, 2015
I made an
appointment with Dr. Hong Ga Sze at Mount Elizabeth Hospital at 9.30 a.m. You
can google his name and find his website there, he is a general surgeon
specialized in breast and head & neck. So in general, the consultation
itself was almost the same with what I had before in Jakarta. The doctor asked
me on why I came there. I told him about the lump then he asked me to lie down
on the examination bed and do the manual examination, then he asked me to do an
ultrasound scan and mammogram at the building next door. Well the ultrasound
scan I did before in Jakarta, so I knew what was gonna happened during the
scan. As for the mammogram… hmm… mammogram is supposedly done to a 40-ish year
old woman or something right? (CMIIW) so there it goes, I had my first
mammogram at 27 y.o. I’m way ahead many girls then. I tell you what,, it was
painful to have your breast pushed into that thing (whatever the name is haha).
You can google yourself to know the details about mammogram.
Tuesday
January 13th, 2015
The doctor
received my tests results and they discovered that the size of my lump is
approximately 4.3 cm. (Wow it grew 0.3 cm after flying across the country
haha). In order to know exactly on what type of lump it is, he gave two
options, one is to do a biopsy by taking a tissue of the lump to know on whether
it is cancerous or not without removing the lump, or two, we take out the lump
and do a biopsy from the lump which we already taken. And the doctor suggested
to might as well just take it out lar. And of course I am so well prepared to
say ‘yes’ to the surgery.
We agreed
to have a surgery on the next day. Before that, they needed to take some
medical information from me regarding my medical condition, whether I had drug
allergies or on other medication. Later on the nurse took blood pressure and
this is where another problem coming (woohoo!!!). Turned out that I had a high
blood pressure and it was not safe to perform an operation with that high number
of blood pressure. The doctor then suggested me to see a cardiologist first.
After lunch
I went to Dr. Eric Hong’s office and I took ECG and echo test before I met him.
Again, since I am not a doctor, kindly refer to google for your better
understanding of these tests. So based on my result, I do have a high blood
pressure, and it needs to be treated. Meanwhile as for tomorrow’s surgery, I
was given a medicine to lower my blood pressure and it is safe for me to
continue with the surgery. The cardiologist itself gave me an explanation about
how my heart works based on my test and he also suggested me to take a full
blood test and get back to him for the blood test result and my high blood
pressure medication after my surgery. Oh boy, I didn’t think that I would end
up in a cardiologist office and hearing so much health term in one day.
In the mean
time, I just needed to be focused on the surgery for the next day.
Wednesday,
January 14th, 2015
Say hello
to one of the biggest day of my life! This is the first time I had a surgery
and I don’t plan to have another one, trust me :D
I went to
the registration desk and make sure that I completed all the administration
needed and the day before they informed me not to eat or drink anything after 7
a.m. My breast lump removal is a minor
surgery and they said that it would only take around one – two hours for the
team to perform the surgery and I did not need to stay overnight. Around 11 a.m. the nurse called me in and I
get to stay in my ward. I shared my ward with two other patients whom had
different cases, on my right; the patient was going to have eye surgery, while
the patient on my left, I didn’t know what he was going through :p
I changed
my clothes into the hospital gown and waited to be called to the operation
room. I was lying on my bed when the first nurse came in; she greeted me and
asked how I am doing. Then she asked about my data such as name and what
surgery am I going to have. Then around fifteen minutes, another nurse came in
and asked the same question. The waiting was starting to make me a little
nervous. Then comes the man whose about to cut me open: my surgeon! Haha. His
face was very calm. He greeted me and explained that we’re about to have the
surgery in a while and told me not to worry because it was only a small
procedure (with big cost *cough*). Then he left me and said: see you in the
theatre. Oh man, as far as I know ‘theatre’ is a place to watch a movie, now my
knowledge has broadened, thanks to my lumpy lump!
Around
twelve p.m. the nurse came and she said that we were ready to go to the
operating room. I took of my glasses and gave it to my mom. I have high degree
myopia so everything was a blur from the moment I took the nurses pushed me to
the operating room until the operation finished.
After I
entered the operation room, they put me into the waiting room first; guess the
traffic is quite high inside the operating room huh? Then some people started
to come and introduced themselves to me, from the nurse that will be helping my
procedure, until the anesthetist. The anesthetist was quite friendly and he
started to make small talks with me by asking where I am come from etc. I told
him that I’m from Jakarta but I previously worked here for almost two years.
Not that he needed to know that, but I know he’s trying to comfort me by keep
talking to me (or pretended that he’s interested with my story hehe). He also
said that later I will be on general anesthesia so I will be in a deep sleep
and won’t feel anything, and once I’m awake I might be having some nausea
because of the anesthesia. Deep down inside I was encouraging myself by saying:
“Bring it on, Doc!” But the all I can say to him was: “okay” *in slow whisper*.
The
anesthetist said that we were almost ready to go to the operating theater and
just needed to wait for a while. He told me to relax and watch the TV, but
since everything was a blur I decided to comfort myself by thinking happy
thoughts such as counting how many unread emails by the time I get back to my
office (why are you so serious?)
Then the
nurse came and she said that we’re ready to enter the operating theatre. She
also said that it can be a little chilly there, so if I needed anything I can
ask for her assistance. Is it too late to ask for a hot green tea latte?
You know
the scene in movies when someone is entering the hospital and the camera started
to shoot the face of the nurse and paramedics who’s helping to push the bed into
the ICU? That is how awesome I felt before entering the theatre. I am a star in
my own movie haha. Okay I think I get too carried away writing this surgery
part. Please forgive my lack of focus.
When I got
inside, my surgeon was there and he said that we are going to make a cut on my
breast to take out the lump. Then using a marker, he drew a line on where the
cut was gonna be. Deep down I was like, okay this is funny. He makes scribble
on my body part? Haha. He said that once the lump is removed, it’s gonna go to
the lab for further examination. Then he said we’re about to start the
operation.
The
anesthetist then came and greeted me again. He said he’s going to inject the
anesthesia and he said that I was going to have a deep sleep. He counted to
three, injected something and he said to me to just dream about shopping at
Orchard, Gucci, Ferragamo….
Moments
later, I was awake, I felt slightly dizzy and the anesthetist asked: “Did you
buy the Ferragamo?” Oh my.. I should have told him that I already put all my
SGD on the operating table and what is it with him and Ferragamo? I think I get
cranky too since I was hungry and thirsty haha.
My head was heavy and I felt a slight pain on
my left chest. The surgeon said that the surgery went well for almost two hours.
Everything was okay and I can go back to my ward. The sting on my left chest
was all I can remember, so I decided to get some sleep again at my ward.
Around 4
p.m. the nurse came to my ward to check my condition. She said that if I’m
feeling better, I can leave the hospital already. She also gave me some
antibiotics and pain killer and told me that the follow up consultation will be
at Saturday morning. At 4.30 p.m. I was discharged from the hospital.
I took the
antibiotics but decide not to eat the painkiller since I didn’t feel pain after
I was discharged, or the nausea from the anesthesia. It was so relieving to
know that the lump has been taken out of my body.
Saturday,
January 17th, 2015
It’s follow
up consultation day. First I had a follow up consultation with the
cardiologist. From my full blood test and cardio tests he suggested some
medication to treat my high blood pressure. I hate to admit that I had a high
blood pressure, since on my last medical checkup four months ago the doctor
didn’t mention anything about my blood pressure. I believe that I had a high
blood pressure because of this lump-y thingy and some work thing that got into
my head, but hey, medically speaking I need those medications L The cardiologist also said to
maintain a healthy lifestyle such as exercise and eat less salt. Okay Doc!
Now it’s
time to meet my surgeon regarding the follow up consultation. He said: good
news! The lab report came out and the lump is not cancerous. The lump is what
they called infarcted fibroadenoma. I
don’t know on how to put this term into a simpler word, in my understanding,
the blood supply to the lump was cut off and makes the lump bigger than its
original size. (Oh please correct me if I’m wrong). The doctor said he didn’t know on how I got
the lump on the first place and on how it could’ve gotten that big. Maybe not
all questions need to be answered. He said that I will need to have a check up
in the next six months just to make sure that everything will be okay. When I
asked him whether there’s any food to avoid, he said: “We don’t believe in
those kinds of things. If you wanted to eat anything, just eat, but not in
front of your mom.” He knows my mom too well! Haha. He also said that I will
need to do an ultrasound scan in another six months to monitor my health. Will
do Doc!
So that was
the end of my exciting and surprising two weeks. I am so grateful that even
though I have to face a difficult situation, God opens many door for me. I am
also grateful that I am surrounded by lots of people who genuinely care about
me.
I believe
that life will take you to unexpected places, meet unpredictable people which
will change our lives forever. No matter how hard your situation it is right
now, just be grateful and believe that you have a bigger God than all of your
problems. He always has the perfect timing for all of us and He makes
everything beautiful in its time J
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