Day 1
Once I'm in the ward, a senior staff nurse came to ask me a standard set of questions. Even before she leaves my room, a junior doctor came in and started asking me similar questions. Seriously, I think the nurse had more EQ than the doctor, who looked at me strangely with her eyes wide open; her whole facial expression was just so wrong. I was so glad when she finally left the room. The nurse took my weight and measured my girth. Then, she started the IV drip (saline solution) on my right hand; couldn't have it done on my left hand because I already had an IV on the left on Saturday for ER. The drip's flow rate is regulated by a machine, so if I need to use the toilet, I had to call the nurse to unplug the machine.
The nurse instructed me to record all my intake (what and how much I ate and drank) and output (my pee volume). How do I measure how much my pee was? The nurse came back in with a basin thing to put over the toilet bowl, so basically, I pee into this basin thing, then the nurse will pour my pee into a measuring jug. Sigh, unpleasant.
When I was given the lunch menu, I stared at it for quite long and didn't know what to order because I had no appetite, even though I haven't eaten anything since last night. In the end, I ordered chicken porridge. The taste wasn't too bad. It came with apple juice and slices of orange. My parents came to visit with lunch too, but I couldn't even finish the hospital porridge. Such a pity that my home-cooked food went to feed the dustbin.
Once the doctor's prescription was ready, the nurses gave me the pills: 2 kinds of painkillers, 2 tabs each + 2 tabs to relieve gastric pain and + some liquid to soften the stools (since I was having constipation). After taking the medicine, I was feeling quite okay, except for the bloated tummy. Since I still had the needle in my right hand and I am a right-hander, I couldn't really do much things. (No mood to do even play games on my handphone too.) And I had to figure out how to take photos using my left hand.
Shortly after lunch, I was given the menu again to choose my dinner and all the 3 meals for tomorrow. The picture below is my Day 1 dinner - mushroom soup, chicken chop with mashed potato, mango pudding and red date tea. I drank half the soup, ate half a scoop of mashed potato, finished the mango pudding and the rather diluted red date tea; didn't touch the chicken chop and the vegetables at all.
DH kept me company till the evening. He went home for a shower and came back with his working clothes in his bag for the next day. At fixed times, even in the middle of the night, the nurses would come in with the equipment to record my blood pressure and oxygen level. So, DH and I couldn't get quality sleep.
Day 2
Early morning, another junior doctor (different one from Day 1) came into my room and check on how I'm doing. DH woke up too. After she's done with me, DH got prepared to go to work. After he went off, the junior doctor came in with the senior doctor. Don't know why they cannot come in together. I was surprised when the senior doctor said that she met me before at the 24-hour O&G. Actually, she didn't recognize me, she recognized her own handwriting on the notes inside my file. Argh... she had to remind me of the unpleasant miscarriage experience.
So many people came in and out of my room and I couldn't sleep, so I waited for breakfast to be served. I was happy to have bagel with cream cheese. I stared at the Meiji yogurt and wish so much that I could enjoy it, but I think my bloated stomach is not going to be too happy if I stuff it in, so I kept it in the fridge. (Yes, there is a fridge in my room!) I drank the milo and drifted into sleep.
Somehow, when I woke up, I felt really uncomfortable and the pain from the bloating came back. Perhaps I should not have refused to take the Panadol when the nurse came with the tablets on Day 1 night and Day 2 morning. I pressed the call button and requested for painkiller. It didn't seem to help very much, plus I feel more nauseous. A nurse gave me plastic bag in case I vomit. And I did, but only clear fluid came out. I was hoping that DH would come back quickly (he took the afternoon off from work). When he finally reached at around 1pm, I was still very miserable. Obviously, my lunch was still sitting on the table totally untouched. By the time the junior doctor finally came to check on me, the medicine had taken effect and I was feeling less miserable already. She wanted to send me for a scan, but Dr Sadhana decided otherwise, perhaps because the water retention is pretty common and the scan wouldn't be useful anyway.
My parents came to visit again. This time they brought papaya. I ate a few pieces and everything seems to be okay. No, I was wrong... my stomach didn't want the papaya and threw up again. I gave up eating; didn't even bother to unwrap my meals to take photos. I just tried to drink as much water or juice or milo as I can.
The physiotherapist came, talked to me about the compression stockings that the doctor ordered, and measured my ankle and thigh. Then, the therapy assistant came to put on the stockings for me, and at the same time, teach me how to put it one as she was doing it. Why do I need the compression stockings? Because I had been lying in bed for the entire day, except when I need to use the toilet. I was encouraged to walk around to improve my blood circulation. At night, I took my first walk around the ward. It was only a short distance and I was feeling exhausted and my muscles was achy.
Day 3
Finally, Dr Sadhana gave the green light to take me off the drip and see how I'm doing without it. I hope very much that I'll be fine, so that I can go home. I was starting to worry about the hospital bills; the admission counter collected $2k+ for 2 days' stay, which is excluding the portion that I'm paying using Medisave, and this was an estimate excluding non-standard medications and other treatments.
Like Day 2, DH went to work in the morning and came back to accompany me in the afternoon. I spent the morning dozing off. Every time someone enters my room, I would wake up for a brief moment, then I would quickly fall asleep again. I couldn't stay awake! I waited for DH to come back to accompany for my walks around the ward.
My parents bought some ginger tea from the foodcourt downstairs. Ginger tea is suppose to help improve my appetite. Seriously, I hate ginger but I got no choice if I want to eat. At this moment, only sour cream potato chips interest me, but DH wasn't glad that I am eating junk food.
On Day 3 night, he decided that he wouldn't stay overnight in the hospital since my condition is improving and he couldn't sleep properly here too.
Day 4
Although my weight hasn't dropped and my girth is still increasing, I was allowed to be discharged to rest at home. While waiting for the paper work to be done, I changed out to my own clothes and discovered that my tummy grew so big that I couldn't button up the shorts that I came in with! I look pregnant and I couldn't walk with my body straight. I have to bend forward slightly and walk very slowly.
This is the view from my bed.
This is how the room look like from the entrance.
View of the room while I'm sitting on the sofa, which is also DH's bed.
And that's the TV in front of my bed.
I took all these photos while waiting for my medications and the summary report. When the nurse confirm that I can go, I hang around in the room until DH came to fetch me. By right, the "check out" time is 11.30am, but I stayed slightly beyond that and no one came in to chase me.
Before heading home, we went to my mum's place for lunch. She cooked bird nest for me and cooked our dinner too. The first thing I did when I reached home was to shower. I haven't washed my hair for days!
