Monday, October 31

13th Day - 17/10/2005 (Monday)

Today, I get up a bit before 6a.m., when the nurse is making her rounds. Seeing that I’m already awake, I might as well wait for my mama. I’m going for the exam today. The doctors tell me that there will be one, at most two, students who will try to diagnose what I have. I hope I only have to go through one.

Mama arrives at about 6.30a.m. She brings the sweater with her, together with a nail clipper, cotton buds and baby oil, which I have requested yesterday from hubby. I get ready and talk to hubby at the same time. I tell her not to leave yet and to wait till 7.30a.m. So she stays.

After getting ready, I use the baby oil to get rid of the remains of the stubborn plaster on my thigh. Sitting in an air-conditioned room has also made my hands and feet dry and scaly. Before I could finish cleaning up the plaster, breakfast arrives. I eat first as I need to go soon. Sure enough, at 7.30 sharp, a nurse comes with a wheelchair and says it is time to go. I hug mama and tell her to drive home carefully. She walks out to the lifts with us and then we go our separate ways.

I arrive at Level 10 and see that some patients have already arrived. I have to wait for my doctor to come first. He walks through the door at about 7.40a.m. and instructs them to put me in Room ‘F’. So, the nurse pushes me there. There is a female attendant at each room door. They are there to assist the patient in case the patient needs to go for a bathroom break. They also act as timekeepers for the medical students.

The examination is actually for final-year students. However, this is a repeat exam for those who did not make it through the first time. They are supposed to get information from the patient, then go to another room and present the case to four examiners. Later the med student comes back to the patient’s room and answers the questions from the four examiners. When they have no more questions, it is then over. I hope the med student who is presenting me will pass this exam.

I am brought back to my room after the exam. I finally get a chance to clean all the remains of the plaster on my thigh. Then I put baby oil on my hands and feet. I clip all my nails and feel a lot better immediately.

Lunch is brought and I eat quite a lot. There’s some chicken soup, and a serving of ladies fingers, which I like. I have some honeydew after that, and then proceed with eating the oranges mama brought yesterday.

I feel a little sleepy, so I take a nap, during which my sis-in-law Ilyana and her colleague Kak Linda come. Kak Linda brings some sandwiches for me and hubby. Aww, how thoughtful of her. Ilyana brings me a new magazine, the Malaysian Women’s Weekly this time. I tell her that she can take back her Elle as I’ve already gone through it. After staying about 20 minutes, they say goodbye and go to visit their friend.

I try to take a nap but could not do so. I then decide to just lie down and wait for hubby. He comes sometime close to 6p.m. Says he has too many things to do at work today. He goes for Asar and I request some orange juice. When he returns, he massages my sore shoulder and we talk while waiting for the breaking of fast.

We eat together for the second time and by 7.30p.m. he has to leave. He brings me my handphone today, so that he can communicate with me, in case I can go home or something like that. And finally I can actually tell what time it is. Ever since moving into this ward, I have had no access to a clock, so time is always estimated. Not anymore. Now I will know the actual time. No more guessing from the delivery of food and the nurses’ rounds. He leaves and I am alone again.

I really hope that the Prof comes to see me tomorrow. I want to know when I can go home. I really miss home and my family. There’s nothing like the banter and teasing from my brother, which is normally targeted at my youngest sister Aqilah. And all the stories we all tell when we sit around together in the living room.

I go through the Women’s Weekly. At a couple of intervals, hubby calls. First to give me the numbers from the credit top up card that he has bought for me, and then later just to check up on me to see if everything’s okay.

I read most of the articles in the magazine, and finally go to sleep close to midnight.

No comments: