its really been a while now.
probably forgot quite a few details.
actually i documented this on the shared blog.
the one jason and i used to share.
but then he so smartly deleted it.
without even asking me.

dammit why does his name have to keep appearing in my posts.
rage face.

ok on to the facts.

continuing from the point where Mr. ex dropped me off at the A&E bay.
Da jie and I got registered, and then they took my essentials.
My blood pressure was really low, so they kept on taking it again and again.
it happens everywhere.
i somehow get a kick from seeing the people's puzzled faces.
'is the machine spoilt?'
'lets try another machine.'
'why not we do it manually',
etc.
funny, funny.

So after that, another round of waiting.
i had to wait for them to register me, and after quite a while,
(da jie was holding the huge holiday-esque packed duffle bag)
they called me in.
da jie couldn't come in either. so she had to stay outside and wait.
i took my handphone along.

then there was another round of bp measuring and SP02 and whatnot.
then they did the breathing test again. yeah i forgot to mention that.
they'd put a stethescope on my back to check right lung against left lung.
and then they'd all panic cause there wasn't any breathing sounds from my right lung. lol.
which meant that it had collapsed pretty bad.
but my left lung was compensating, so i could still be happy and merry.
but of course its a bad thing.

then they made me take off my shoes, put me on a bed, and wheeled me into this sorta private corridor.
then they hooked me up to monitor my vitals, and left me waiting there.
and they said i couldn't use my handphone.
but i got so bored, after a while i started texting da jie anyway.
i also overheard how that day was 'pneumothorax day', cause there were so many pneumothorax cases.
so i asked what it was, and i got my explanation, albeit quite briefly.
i also heard how i was an unusual case cause i was female, non-smoker, and not tall and skinny.
then i was left alone again.

then they suddenly put up a set of screens, and a bunch of girls came around, and a doctor told me they would need to preform this procedure called needle aspiration.
which is basically poking a needle into the pocket of air formed between the inner lining of the intercostal muscles and the collapsed lung, and using the needle to suck the air out.
then hopefully, my lung would re-expand and be okay.
so there was some improvement, and they sent me back.

then a few days (or was it the next day?)
my lung recollapsed again.
this time i was supposed to go to the zoo with jason.
but as i was crossing the overhead bridge, i got really really breathless.
this time without the sharp pain, but it was really REALLY breathless
like alot more than before.
it was like i was inhaling and exhaling as much as i could,
but only a very small amount of air was getting in.
so we took public transport, or was it cab? to ttsh again.

this time, they admitted me, and did a chest tube.
which made breathing hurt like fuck.
like i could feel the tube inside me, and it was rubbing against my lung or something every time i tried to breathe.
after a day or so the pain got better, and eventually i managed to reach the stage where i would hold the box and walk around to do my business, and just basically stretch out my legs.
oh yes, sitting and lying down hurt like hell, too. cause the wound site was on my shoulder.
for the first one or two nights, i couldn't sleep properly cause the pressure against the wound site was just too fucking painful.

Then a while after that, the doctor basically told me that the chest tube wasn't working and he didn't know why, so they fiddled with it. like poked it deeper, try to do this, and that and etc.
OH YEAH.
i forgot to mention!
they did the chest tube thing in the corridor again,
but this time, i got nervous, so when they injected the local anaesthesia, i fainted.
lol.
joke, sia.
so yeah i didn't get to experience the procedure of getting a chest tube poked into your body.
the scar left behind is my shoulder scar, which i didn't name, cause its fading pretty well, imo.
caterpillar, butterfly and dragonfly are taking a while longer.
dragonfly is starting to fade too. whee!

back to the topic.
so after the chest tube failed, and my lungs weren't getting any better, the doctors had to find a solution.
so their conclusion was to have a little op.
oh yes, i had xrays every morning, and did blood tests morning and night too, and had my vitals measured on a regular basis. can't say i didn't like the attention. xD
though occasionally the drawing of blood for the tests would hurt a bit cause my veins were small and the needle would miss, then they'd have to try a different site. lol. like poking into meat sia. surprisingly enough, the IV i had didn't hurt.
Anyway. I always wanted to try poking an IV permanently, and connecting it to a saline bag, and just hydrate myself off the saline. then i wouldn't need to bother to drink water, or at least i'd be less dehydrated. unlike now. meh.
Ok thats pretty gross, but it was just an idea of mine.
y'know, for the sake of convenience.

so anyway.
they made my vitals improve until i was ready for surgery, then they wheeled me in.
quite exciting.
they put me on this surgery plinth, and made me sign a form, then they put me in the anaesthesia waiting room, and a girl student talked to me to help me relax. she was nice
then they wheeled me in, told me to relax, and asked me to breathe the gas. the doc said count down from ten, and by the time you reach zero, you'd be asleep. if you even reach zero at all.
so i was like okey. 10, 9, 8, gone.

lol
when i woke, the surgery was over, but instead of being the promised 1-2 hour surgery, it turned out to be a 6 hour surgery.
i think mom and dad were panicking like crazy.
turns out, i didn't just have one blister on my lung surface, i had a whole bunch of them at the top of my right lung.
so they had to staple off the affected area, aka the top of my lung, and trim the bad tissue away. so i lost a part of my lung.
and when i woke, the first thing that struck me was 'i'm cold!!' it was freaking cold. it was like the most cold i had ever been. and i kept complaining to the nurses between chattering teeth. so in the end the nurse turned this massive fan at me, and blew hot air over me. it helped, but not much.

recuperation wasn't fun, i had to do breathing exercises with the physio, and it hurt to breathe. the morphine didn't help either. heroin would probably have been more effective. all the morphine did was give me a slight buzz - even alcohol could get me more relaxed.. so anyway.
the blood tests and xrays still continued, and cause i wasn't improving fast enough, the doctors scolded me regularly, and dr. bala (the physio) kept on reminding me to breathe the thing. damn! they have no idea how much it hurt.

eventually, when i got better, and after a lot of gifts, i was finally discharged. a while later, my stitches healed, so i went to the polyclinic to get them removed. it actually felt pretty painless.

yup. so thats about it for my pneumothorax case, if you still don't know what pneumothorax is, its basically a lung collapse, go google it. haha.

its really been a while now.
probably forgot quite a few details.
actually i documented this on the shared blog.
the one jason and i used to share.
but then he so smartly deleted it.
without even asking me.

dammit why does his name have to keep appearing in my posts.
rage face.

ok on to the facts.

continuing from the point where Mr. ex dropped me off at the A&E bay.
Da jie and I got registered, and then they took my essentials.
My blood pressure was really low, so they kept on taking it again and again.
it happens everywhere.
i somehow get a kick from seeing the people's puzzled faces.
'is the machine spoilt?'
'lets try another machine.'
'why not we do it manually',
etc.
funny, funny.

So after that, another round of waiting.
i had to wait for them to register me, and after quite a while,
(da jie was holding the huge holiday-esque packed duffle bag)
they called me in.
da jie couldn't come in either. so she had to stay outside and wait.
i took my handphone along.

then there was another round of bp measuring and SP02 and whatnot.
then they did the breathing test again. yeah i forgot to mention that.
they'd put a stethescope on my back to check right lung against left lung.
and then they'd all panic cause there wasn't any breathing sounds from my right lung. lol.
which meant that it had collapsed pretty bad.
but my left lung was compensating, so i could still be happy and merry.
but of course its a bad thing.

then they made me take off my shoes, put me on a bed, and wheeled me into this sorta private corridor.
then they hooked me up to monitor my vitals, and left me waiting there.
and they said i couldn't use my handphone.
but i got so bored, after a while i started texting da jie anyway.
i also overheard how that day was 'pneumothorax day', cause there were so many pneumothorax cases.
so i asked what it was, and i got my explanation, albeit quite briefly.
i also heard how i was an unusual case cause i was female, non-smoker, and not tall and skinny.
then i was left alone again.

then they suddenly put up a set of screens, and a bunch of girls came around, and a doctor told me they would need to preform this procedure called needle aspiration.
which is basically poking a needle into the pocket of air formed between the inner lining of the intercostal muscles and the collapsed lung, and using the needle to suck the air out.
then hopefully, my lung would re-expand and be okay.
so there was some improvement, and they sent me back.

then a few days (or was it the next day?)
my lung recollapsed again.
this time i was supposed to go to the zoo with jason.
but as i was crossing the overhead bridge, i got really really breathless.
this time without the sharp pain, but it was really REALLY breathless
like alot more than before.
it was like i was inhaling and exhaling as much as i could,
but only a very small amount of air was getting in.
so we took public transport, or was it cab? to ttsh again.

this time, they admitted me, and did a chest tube.
which made breathing hurt like fuck.
like i could feel the tube inside me, and it was rubbing against my lung or something every time i tried to breathe.
after a day or so the pain got better, and eventually i managed to reach the stage where i would hold the box and walk around to do my business, and just basically stretch out my legs.
oh yes, sitting and lying down hurt like hell, too. cause the wound site was on my shoulder.
for the first one or two nights, i couldn't sleep properly cause the pressure against the wound site was just too fucking painful.

Then a while after that, the doctor basically told me that the chest tube wasn't working and he didn't know why, so they fiddled with it. like poked it deeper, try to do this, and that and etc.
OH YEAH.
i forgot to mention!
they did the chest tube thing in the corridor again,
but this time, i got nervous, so when they injected the local anaesthesia, i fainted.
lol.
joke, sia.
so yeah i didn't get to experience the procedure of getting a chest tube poked into your body.
the scar left behind is my shoulder scar, which i didn't name, cause its fading pretty well, imo.
caterpillar, butterfly and dragonfly are taking a while longer.
dragonfly is starting to fade too. whee!

back to the topic.
so after the chest tube failed, and my lungs weren't getting any better, the doctors had to find a solution.
so their conclusion was to have a little op.
oh yes, i had xrays every morning, and did blood tests morning and night too, and had my vitals measured on a regular basis. can't say i didn't like the attention. xD
though occasionally the drawing of blood for the tests would hurt a bit cause my veins were small and the needle would miss, then they'd have to try a different site. lol. like poking into meat sia. surprisingly enough, the IV i had didn't hurt.
Anyway. I always wanted to try poking an IV permanently, and connecting it to a saline bag, and just hydrate myself off the saline. then i wouldn't need to bother to drink water, or at least i'd be less dehydrated. unlike now. meh.
Ok thats pretty gross, but it was just an idea of mine.
y'know, for the sake of convenience.

so anyway.
they made my vitals improve until i was ready for surgery, then they wheeled me in.
quite exciting.
they put me on this surgery plinth, and made me sign a form, then they put me in the anaesthesia waiting room, and a girl student talked to me to help me relax. she was nice
then they wheeled me in, told me to relax, and asked me to breathe the gas. the doc said count down from ten, and by the time you reach zero, you'd be asleep. if you even reach zero at all.
so i was like okey. 10, 9, 8, gone.

lol
when i woke, the surgery was over, but instead of being the promised 1-2 hour surgery, it turned out to be a 6 hour surgery.
i think mom and dad were panicking like crazy.
turns out, i didn't just have one blister on my lung surface, i had a whole bunch of them at the top of my right lung.
so they had to staple off the affected area, aka the top of my lung, and trim the bad tissue away. so i lost a part of my lung.
and when i woke, the first thing that struck me was 'i'm cold!!' it was freaking cold. it was like the most cold i had ever been. and i kept complaining to the nurses between chattering teeth. so in the end the nurse turned this massive fan at me, and blew hot air over me. it helped, but not much.

recuperation wasn't fun, i had to do breathing exercises with the physio, and it hurt to breathe. the morphine didn't help either. heroin would probably have been more effective. all the morphine did was give me a slight buzz - even alcohol could get me more relaxed.. so anyway.
the blood tests and xrays still continued, and cause i wasn't improving fast enough, the doctors scolded me regularly, and dr. bala (the physio) kept on reminding me to breathe the thing. damn! they have no idea how much it hurt.

eventually, when i got better, and after a lot of gifts, i was finally discharged. a while later, my stitches healed, so i went to the polyclinic to get them removed. it actually felt pretty painless.

yup. so thats about it for my pneumothorax case, if you still don't know what pneumothorax is, its basically a lung collapse, go google it. haha.