Pushing on

In light of my present sufferings, i am reminded of the Cross..yet again. I was grimacing in pain the other day as some machine was forcing my knees to bend and boy, do they hurt and i remembered the cross and what kind of pains He went through. It cannot be compared of course. It must have been incredibly painful for Him.

The picture above is the latest one on how my leg looks like. Swellings decreased already. Its much lighter now and im beginning to regain some strength there. Bruisings all over are from crazy physiotherapists who enjoy making you suffer.

haha.

It's from the excess bleeding from the op. But yea, these physiotherapists are real jokers man. They keep going, 'come on, push, push' or 'Today, doctor gave me license to make you suffer, muahahaha.' And us patients would be laughing at one another when one of us go through some excruciating exercises not knowing we are next. I was a victim.

I managed to hit 80 degrees yesterday without a machine. hehehe. so proud of myself. Then some aunty shouted from behind, 'ah boy ah...im already doing 70 and i just had my op couple days ago.'

potong stim man.

Pushing on today, my goal for the week, to rid of one crutch.

Did i mention, my new best friends are my crutches and they super cool looking brace i have to wear everytime i 'walk'. haha. And my new enemy is that stocking that i have to wear everyday to compress my veins and arteries to avoid DVT. They're soooo uncomfortable.

I am so grateful for the people around me. They have been so helpful. Bringing breakfast to bed for me, driving me around, helping me to shower...the list is endless.

:)

Off to physio. See ya. Gonna try 90 today.

Down days

I realised that there's going to be some up days and down days through this hard period of having only one mobile leg. Yesterday was a 'down' day and boy, was it 'down'.

sigh.

gotta find some mechanism to cheer me up when i hit rock bottom.

physio today was good. yay for me, i reached 40 degrees on my knee bends on the busted leg. haha. the old aunties and uncles are competing with one another. One of them's on 90 degrees already.

haha :)

Waasssaaapppp

Pictures, in no particular order (not for the faint hearted, you have been warned :p)

Discharged on Sunday Afternoon. Had church with Father, Son and Holy Spirit on Hospital Bed :)

Right after the op, i was 'high' on some feel good drug.

Hospital jokers gave me frisbee as a free gift to motivate me. haha

Before ..

Hellllllooooooo world...

It has been an interesting week so far. Came back home to Klg on Tues night (15th of July), saw Doc on Wed, and had my first ever surgery on Friday which lasted for 4 hours. Thank God it went well. That was the easy part. haha. Hard part is the rehab and all the exercises which i must adhere to and also NO GAMES FOR 1 year. (maybe 9 months..hehe).

The staff was extremely professional. From the questions they asked to the way they handled themselves, i must say i was very impressed. Then again, the whole thing costs a bomb. They should be professional. haha.

Some interesting stories that i will not forget.

1. In the OT, i was the only male apart from the Doc who was operating and some other guy who helped carry me onto the table and all. So to distract my mind (the ladies could all see that i was nervous and all), they cracked random jokes like whtr i was attached or not and that most of the ladies there were single. But yea, they did their best to make sure i did not think about what was to come. Before i knew it, i heard someone say, 'injection coming in' and i felt the most excruciating pain on my back. I opted for spinal anaesthesia so that meant injection to the back. Best part was, the same voice then said, 'ooppss, i missed'. haha. Not her fault anyway, i was moving and all but the second one was straight on the spot. Right now, ive got 2 bruises on my back. Them jokers..haha. They pumped some drug into me and next thing i know, i was asleep. Mind was awake though, i could hear what they were talking but just could not respond. I was like in some semiconscious state.

And i think they injected some drug after the op to wake me up coz i woke up the moment i was wheeled into my room. Boy, was i hyper. They gave me some feel good drug too and i was literally 'high'. Some patients like that particular drug as it gives the same effect as alcohol minus the side effects. LOL. Was talking non stop to everyone and ate like a pig. I was thinking..that wasnt too bad. Few hours later, when the drug effects wore off and the anaesthesia lost its effect..haha..happy chinese new year man...pain like crazy....

2. Another incident, the morning after the op, i was taking a shower in the hospital toilet and i accidentally dropped my crutches. One of the nurse came running into the toilet to see whether i was alright. Yes, she saw me nude. haha. I was also wearing them backless gowns and i totally forgotten about it. Once when i was walking to the toilet, i was baring my bum bum to the whole ward. I had my disposable undies on of course but they had holes..i didnt realise until a nurse came n hold the gown for me at the back.

3. I got my leg hairs on my right leg shaved off.

yes, you must be laughing now. haha

On a serious note, i thank God for the people around me. I'm really limited in what i can do now. Getting into a car takes a llooonggg time. Going to toilet and getting in and out of bed leaves me breathless. God still provides. Like on Sunday, we didnt know how i was going to be transported home but thank God, a church uncle just came and offer his help with his van.

And really, this whole thing about the body of Christ and how one part affects the other. Its so true man. My knee affects my entire being now. It's uber inflamed now, all swollen up and it affects my mood and how i feel. Can be a bit depressing sometimes when you have to rely on people to help you even with the simplest stuff. And the pain....mum calls me big baby now oh well..hahha. Low threshold

And was reading P. Yancey's book on prayer and it described prayer as a total disregard of oneself and full dependance on God. Being in this condition that i am, I'm beginning to understand what it means to fully depend on Him.

Met new friends during physio today and suddenly had a fear. At 21, I'm having this already. If i dont look after it properly, whats going to happen when i hit 50.

Sigh.

Here It comes

Spent the day with my mates today and then it became mate.. haha. It was good. Never had so much fun before with guitars.

Came back and pulled weeds and swept the floor. haha. Had no outdoor chores to do back in Adl.

I just found out that if i were to go for Spinal anaesthesia tmr, it would mean that they're going to stick some long needle into my spinal chord. happy chinese new year man....hahahha

I remember coming up with a list of things to do for my 21st yr on earth and the surgery was one of them and looks like its coming to pass...

time to go work my jiggy..

hehe

Thanks for praying

:)

really appreciate the love and support

feeling a bit shy now. i might hv to be stripped naked except for that gown.

haha.

just had petai for dinner and eating durian now. I better not fart tmr in the op theater. If the doc faints, we'll know why....hahahhahahha

and no food from 8am tmr till potentially 8 pm.. ish

Home

It's good to be home. :)

Some pictures of the past few weeks. It's funny. I was so used to smiling at everyone anytime someone passes but I guess, KL people aren't just as friendly. I mean, I'm sure when one asks, 'How do you do?', you would doubt whether does he/she really earnestly wants to know how are you doing? But i see it as a sign of politeness and hospitality. Oh well...

Some pics and updates

Sent out the M team to a place where they needed to go.

Had a good meal with the committee. First time ever experience at a 'poshy' Cina restaurant in Adelaide. Notice the gold coloured book where the bill came with.

Finished placement at Helping Hand Ingle Farm with a presentation to 3 chaps which was a interesting experience.

I had to borrow a projector and bring my own laptop. Imagine carrying those stuffs and traveling for close to 1.5 hours. That was what i had to go through almost everyday for 4 weeks.

We had Dr. Omar Djoeandy at OCF that night (11th July). He's one of our CONVENTION speakers this year and yes, we are truly blessed to have him take a session and also give us a taste of what is to come. Am so PUMPED to see what he has to share with us from God during CONVENTION. It was an incredible night. God really spoke so clearly to so many and of course, when the Spirit of God comes, something HAPPENS. He thanked me for leading worship that night saying that I did a good job in preparing the 'hearts' for the WORD through songs and sharing and also 'moments'. On my part, it sorta confirmed what has been on my heart the past few weeks.

John 12:32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.

Truly when God is exalted, well....GREAT and AWESOME THINGS HAPPEN.

Spent time with the Chen's. haha. it was a good evening :)

Received a kau-kau power book to keep me company. :) Thank You.

Had Dimsum with what was left of the committee. haha

Waited for a bit for Parents at KLIA as the flight landed early.

Went to KL Sports Medical Centre to see a certain Doc for my knee.

And now, going for a surgery this Friday (18th July) and will be hospitalized for the most 2 days and on crutches for at least 2 weeks and physiotherapy for 6 weeks. We did an MRI again today and found out that I have some underlying problems too apart from my TORN ligament. We spent about RM1410 alone today on scans and consultation. I did an MRI, Xray and a Doppler to find for clots or possible clots from the long flight yesterday. CRaaazzzYYYYY. And another expected 30k for the op. Thank God for wise PARENTS who bought INSURANCE for silly ol' me. If you can see the admission letter, it says that I will be going for some lateral release.

Yup, underlying problems..

My Patella (knee cap) is not in place. Apparently, it's not sitting on top of my bones properly. It's something like the image above. Not so serious though, just slightly tilted. Docs gonna cut some stuffs and 'release' some stuffs to let it sit properly. The cause is some inflammation at the sides of the kneecap and also from the Chronic ACL injury. I think its going to be related with the plica resection.

Original position.

I will be going for some 'meniscus shaving too'. I apparently have a congenital problem call discoid meniscus. Thank God the meniscus is intact. Meniscus is the layer of thingy in between the bones. From the top view, its supposed to look like a C, but mine's something in between of a C and an O.

Mine is something like that, but it gives you a rough picture of what mine is. Docs gonna drill a bit off. If i don't fix it now, it will lead to scarring and more knee aches and yes, my knee aches were probably from the meniscus thingy.

I really want to be back for E night but i guess that might not be possible anymore. Haha. Rehabs gonna take about 6 weeks and with the Op happening this Friday. Potentially, i'll be out of action in OCF till Sept.

Prayer partners, I will be going in for surgery at 2.30pm this Friday at KL Sports Medical Centre. The surgery should lasts for 3 hours but can go up to 6 hours if Doc finds more problem.

Some holiday eh.

But oh well, i guess i can take the time to just REST and catch up on some good books. On the way back, i realised that the past 6 months or so has been like a blur to me. It's like i had no break since Dec 07. Had to study in Dec, placements in Jan, Classes in Feb till April, then exams, then back to back Electives, then placements. It was like i went back to Adelaide to run 4000kms and now im taking a breather.

Food has been good though.

:)