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.