Selamat Hari Raya

Midnight stroll at the hospital main lobbyNot much of a celebration for our household this time around. I didn’t even have the time to join my Mum for Qurban at her local surau like I did last year. Spend the morning at the hospital with my Dad-in-law, taking my Mum-in-law there, picking up Anita who spend the night there. I got there after things were sorting out at home, Dad had been reviewed by the on call Medical Officer and his blood taken for the day. Anita had just had her breakfast when I turned up with the boys. They were clearly missing her. She did as well.  We also brought with us some home-cooked meal for Dad. He clearly appreciated that, and finish the whole dish in double quick time.

Lunchtime!After Dad finished his meal, Anita took the boys down for lunch while I waited around. Dad was pretty happy with how things went on. He was clearly apprehensive with the proposed angiogram.  He was clearly expecting the worst, based on what he went through in IJN a few years back. He said the worst pain he had was when the catheter was in. He felt the sensation of somebody putting their hands in his belly and  swirling things around. It was not pain, but the sensation was hard to describe and was very unpleasant. Then came the time when they had to remove the line from his right groin, that was really painful as well. This time around the procedure was very bearable. There were none of the uncomfortable pain in his tummy. Yesterday afternoon when my colleague Dr Zul Helmi removed the line from his groin,  there was hardly any pain. He was gritting his teeth for it.  After the line was removed, he had to lie flat for about six hours. This was to prevent any sudden change in pressure causing bleeding at the side of the procedure.  He finally get to move around in his room at 10 pm last night after the whole day lying on his back. He was damn bored then.

Another problem he had was, due to the fact that he needed plenty of fluids to protect his kidney from the effect of the contrast used for the angiogram, he was put on IV drip. Therefore, he spend most of the evening passing urine. The room was really cold as well from the air-conditioning, which did not help. The important thing was, he had plenty of sleep last evening, clearly a sign that he was settled. I bet, he did not have much sleep in the last week, worrying about what might happen. We left for home, minus my Mum-in-law soon after lunch, stopping at Jaya Jusco on the way home. We had a nap in the afternoon before joining my Mum in Bukit Antarabangsa for an early dinner. While we were away, a few of our cousins came over to visit my Dad-in-law at the hospital. At least they weren’t that lonely on this Hari Raya. As for me, I gave the Qorban and the food a miss for this year. What’s important was my Dad has been sorted. No more chest pain and breathlessness I hope.

Angiogram Day

Today was the day. My Dad-in-law was admitted yesterday as planned for his angiogram today. He was first on the list, and Anita came UMMC with me to be with her Dad.

Alhamdulillah, everything went according to plan. He had his bypass surgery back in 2004 - the reason why I came back to Malaysia. A couple of weekend back, he felt a slight discomfort in his chest and I got him checked out at my Casualty. It turned out that it was an attack of angina.

During angiogram, we found out that one of his grafted blood vessel for his calf was blocked. Since the vessel was a graft, opening it with a balloon may be risky - it may rupture the vessel all together. Prof Wan, the Cardiologist decided to go for a stent instead. It was successfully deployed and my Dad is currently in the ward recuperating. It will likely be another couple of days before he would be discharged. There will be modification to his medications and his lifestyle needed. Well, he is 75 after all.

After the procedure, he needed to lie flat for the rest of the day. He seemed to be coping at the moment - he had his lunch. Anita was in the room as well keeping him company. I was at work, but I think the afternoon will be quiet, so I can hang around as well. For the record, me and the family would like to extend our gratitude not just to Prof Wan, but to my colleague, Dr Zul Hilmi and Houseman Dr Nadia, as well as the staffs of the Cardiology Ward 4U.

At the Casualty

My Dad-in-law was admitted again last night. This was the third time this year. The first couple of times due to bleeding. Last night, he had some pain in his chest and difficulty breathing. He is not the type to tell me things because he didn't want me to worry. When he called me about the discomfort last night, I know something was wrong.

We got to the Casualty just after 9 pm. It was packed with the usual assortments of accidents victims and asthmatics. I called my colleagues en route, so they were expecting him. A quick check and it was pretty clear it was his heart. To cut a long story short, the pain settled with medications, the heart tracing returned to baseline and he was kept in Coronary Care for the night.

Getting some food at 2 am proved quite a challengePuan Anita making sure everything was in placeTime to leaveHis blood tests this morning confirmed that it was not as serious as a heart attack. Buy he will need an angiogram later. Since e had the bypass and al his otter cardiac tests done over in IJN, I think we should go back there at some stage when things settled. He will e seeing my cardiology colleague tomorrow for review and will likely be discharged then. InsyaAllah.

He is 75 and I think he will need to cut back on his work a bit. He will need to get my wife to take care of some of the business. Our boys are much older low and I think it is time that Puan Anita attend to the office, maybe for a couple of days per week at the beginning. She will have to start somewhere. It should not be all about money.

It was just past 3 am when Puan Anita and I reached home last night after seeing him settled at the CCU. She was still groggy this morning, so I came out earlier to catch up with the latest news about his tests. Will need to return soon so that Anita and her Mum can come and visit.

Scary awan jahat

Wow! KL sure looked angry this evening. Hopefully the rain can clear up some of the air quality problem we have here. Clinic today finished longer than expected. Might be heading home after some paperwork. Have to watch the traffic though. It was the first day of the week long school break, and the road will be full of punter looking for Raya bargains. Idlan is still in school until Wednesday but will have the whole of next week off. As for Irfan, he is recovering from a flu. He was at home driving Puan Anita through the roof I was sure.

6TD Nurses Day Party

It has been a yearly event internationally - The Nurses Week. Once a year they had a party in the ward. The nurses did a collection, bought each other prezzies and had a jolly good time. This year was no exception but I must say that this year’s event was the biggest I remembered at least in my ward - Ward 6TD.

When everything was still civilisedYes! Haemato-Oncology is not exactly a rosy subject. The patients stay with us for long period of time, staying in for a good month during their chemotherapy. The nurses and doctors tend to get to know them pretty well. We go through a lot of ups and downs with them. After a while, the patients also get to know us, the nurses and doctors. Some of them were even my Facebook contacts, and that brought down a layer or two in terms of communications. Some of them regularly tweet me and the best way to contact me would be through email as I don’t give away my phone numbers that readily.

On the other side, leukaemia and lymphoma is not exactly conditions that were easy to treat, and sometimes these “friends” of ours never made it through. Ward 6TD can then be a sorrowful place. Things can get depressing. I learned from way back to not feel guilty when I eat in front of patients or have a do like this, behaving like normal human beings. But having a do inside the ward can be awkward still.

The event yesterday was a great one. It was a shame that I can only join late on after my clinic. I finally made it after Jumaat prayers after a few phone calls from the ward sister. Luckily they have saved some food for me. The satay were still aplenty, the soto was set aside for me, so were the dessert. All the food were prepared by the nurses themselves, insisting on me trying all of them. By the time I was done, I could hardly walk! To all the nurses reading this .... much appreciated and Happy Nurses Day.

Slideshow for the party can be found here.