Becklee’s Blog

The thought of spending nights in the hospital was quite scary but after the first night, it was just like any other ordinary night.

My mom had her surgery done on 7 July at 8 a.m. Ah Loot, Paul Kia and I accompanied mom from her hospital bed to the operating theatre. We said a prayer for her and mom appeared calm and reassured. We waved to her as the nurses wheeled her through the sliding door leading to the cold operating theatre.

We waited outside and sat on hard wooden benches. We had gone to the hospital at 7 a.m. and didn’t manage to have breakfast so we had some while waiting for mom. We were told that mom was going for a major surgery and she was high risk.   All the jitters I had the day before disappeared as I recalled the verse from the Bible – Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God”. By 10 a.m. both Paul Kia and I were getting restless because the hard benches gave us a sore bottom, so we walked along the corridor. Paul Kia bought some drinks from the vending machine.

As we waited, we started a conversation with another family whose female relative was at the operating theatre also. As we sat, we saw patients being wheeled into the operating theatre from other wards/floors. There were young and old men and women and children. Paul Kia ogled at a nurse who wore a figure hugging uniform with her name tag pinned right on the tip of her left breast. She strutted up and down the corridor several times with swinging hips and fully aware that all eyes were following her. Paul Kia said she fits perfectly into a TV drama or movie about doctors and nurses.

By 12 noon, we decided to enquire from the nurse at the operating theatre about mom and we were told that she was out of surgery and waiting in the recovery room.  Some time later, she was wheeled out and we accompanied mom back to her bed in the ward. She was in great pain, probably because the anaesthetic had worn out.

That night was the start of my nights in the hospital. My cousin told me to make sure that she doesn’t drink any water for at least 48 hours or until the doctor said she could drink. Also, I needed to make sure that when she coughs, the phlegm doesn’t go into her lungs. And to inform the nurse if I found any bleeding on her wound and when the drips are almost empty so that they can be replaced.  I spent five nights at the hospital and mom appeared to be getting better as she started to eat and pass motion.

While spending the nights at the hospital, I made friends with the other patients and also their relative who stayed overnight to take care of them.  All the patients around my mom, except my mom had cancer and awaiting surgery. One had breast cancer. Two had colon cancer and another had bladder cancer.  The lady with bladder cancer was an elderly lady and her daughters took turns to look after her at night. Before the lights were turned off at almost midnight, I would talk with those carers and Saras who was  on the bed next to mom.  So it wasn’t as boring or scary as I thought it would be.

My mom was to be discharged on the same day as Saras but my mom’s condition turned for the worse as she complained of pain and distension.  The doctors decided to run further tests (x-ray and scan) and that was when an emergency second surgery was needed to see what’s going on inside. They cut her open and found an infection and pus which were drained out. The infection caused her bowels to swell and become distended.  Mom spent three days in ICU and was later taken to the ward where she is now.

The lady who occupied the bed next to my mom in the hospital, Saras, had undergone a successful colon surgery to remove the cancerous part.  Although she had her surgery two days after my mom had her surgery, she recovered much faster and was discharged about 10 days after her surgery.  I stayed five nights at the hospital sleeping on the chair between Saras and my mom’s bed. We chatted quite a bit and she told me a little bit about her family. Her daughter-in-law and her sister-in-law stayed with her on some nights. At night, Saras would talk in her sleep, but I got used to it after a while.

Saras has gone home last Monday but my mom is still in hospital. She had a second surgery done on Thursday because of infection.  Long story…..

Ah Loot and I have taken mom to the hospital again. This time, she agreed to go ahead with the operation to solve her medical problem.  We visited her yesterday evening and one of the patients in the same ward walked towards us and started a conversation. She told us that she had done a colonoscopy the previous day and she just found out that she has colon cancer. The cancer had grown to the size of a ball and now she can’t even pass motion. She is scheduled for surgery on Friday but that depends on the condition of her heart.

The lady said that she had been passing out blood since six months ago but didn’t think much of it because she thought it was just body “heatiness”.  But lately the bleeding got worse as she became weak due to the loss of blood and that’s when she decided to seek medical treatment. She’s 58 years old and married with two sons. One son just got married and the other just had a baby after four years of marriage.  She told us that she hoped all goes well with the surgery as she didn’t want to trouble her family members. She would rather take poison and kill herself than be a burden to them.  We tried our best to console her and told her to think positively. People do survive colon cancer. After that she went to her bed and rested.  Soon she had visitors and as she talked to them she started to cry. I suppose it is hard to live with the fact that one has cancer.

We also saw another patient who was there the previous week. She had a successful surgery and was recovering well and would be discharged soon.

I suppose in a hospital you will find patients who recover and go home happy and others who take the other road.