Friday, April 22, 2011

Surgery (April11): SUCCESS! Thank you.

I'm sorry for the super late post. After finishing my column for April 25 and sending it, my computer malfunctioned. :( Something's wrong withe the videcard or motherboard. I'm currently typing via my ipad coz my pc is in the hospital with Dr.Cris my superhero friendly IT cousin. Haha. Anyway, here the much awaited story of my surgery. Pictures to follow.
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April 9 - Check-in at Philippine General Hospital at around 8 or 9 pm (i think). Check-in, parang magho-hotel lang. Haha. Before heading to PGH, we dropped by St. Jude Parish to light a candle & pray then went to Robinsons Place beside PGH to buy some groceries and eat dinner. Tsk. I forgot to have a haircut. And then we were ay PGH - 5th floor, rm523. The next day was just consecutive number of tests to prepare mo for my surgery. We were told that I'll be needing blood donors to donate 2 bags of blood as a replacement for the blood they borrowed from blood bank that they'll use for my surgery. We posted it on Facebook, and were touched with all the responses, thank you so much!

April 11, 2011 at around 6am, the nurses fetched me in my room with stretcher in tow.
I kept reminding my sister to take charge of my phone and always update my Facebook page. I reminded my mom to buy a Manila Bulletin newspaper because my column is published that day. I also wrote that topic in order to lessen their worry for me. A week before While I was being wheeled from my room to the Operating Room, I remembered my ym conversation with my friend, Armin:
Min Cruz(04/04/2011 9:37:59 PM) : break mo record koMin Cruz(04/04/2011 9:38:07 PM) : 12 hours ako sa operating roompurple_tack(04/04/2011 9:38:21 PM) : cge..purple_tack(04/04/2011 9:38:38 PM) : challenging..purple_tack(04/04/2011 9:38:44 PM) : hahaMin Cruz(04/04/2011 9:38:45 PM) : he he he
and then I told God, "Lord, joke lang po yun na ibi-beat ko ang 12hours record ni armin sa OR. Binabawi ko na po. Wag pong ganung katagal ah. Pero success!"

And for the last time, I reminded my mom again to buy a newspaper and read my column.

Then at 6:15am, which I remembered seeing from the big wall clock, I was waiting outside the operating room; I talked to God again, "Lord, successful surgery ah. Super success pala, so that more people will learn, know & realize how great you are!" And then I recited the 'Our Father until I dozed off since they already let me take a medicine before coming out of my room, and also, they already injected me something, i think. Basta, the next thing I saw when I opened my eyes, they where transferring me to the ICU. I was conscious right after , so when I saw Dr. Lopez (my nuerosurgeon) & Dr. Jose (my anesthesiologist) with me, I said. "thank you po" because that time, I already felt that it was a success though I don't feel like I just gone through a major surgery, because I didn't feel any discomfort.

The operation started at past 7 am and went on for 7 hours.

At about 3pm, Dr. Lopez went to my room to tell everyone the good news, "Everything went as planned." They only had a hard time with the bone where the tumor was stuck to because it is 4 times thicker than the normal size but still, everything went well.

My 'tambay' in the ICU is for precautionary reasons so that they could monitor me since I've just been through an open-head major surgery. It doesn't mean anything else, just an SOP.

When my mom & sister visited my, I was very talkative and kept reminding them to monitor my cellphone & update my Facebook page. I asked, "Sinong nasa taas (room) ngayon? Sinong bumisita? Pinasulat nyo ba dun sa wall? Binigyan nyo ng chocopop?" and before they left, I reminded my sister again, "yung I AM KCAT ah, sulat mo nasa ICU ako."

The doctors and nurses kept on checking on me and asking me (of course), if I feel any discomfort. "Does your head hurt?" No. "Do you feel any pain?" No. "Dizziness?" No. "Do you feel like vomiting?" "Does your head feel heavy?" No. And then I raised my head to show-off. Haha. So when Dr. Lopez came to visit me, before he asked me, I already told him, "Doc, I don't feel any pain, No, headache. I don't feel weak. I don't feel like vomiting. My head is not heavy, I could raise my head" *demonstrates* Show-off! Haha.

Although I can't observe and watch what's happening in the room, unlike my 'tambay' there before (after my surgery in 2005), my stay there wasn't too boring because I was able to have talks with my nurses. Ang daldal ko! Thank you lip-reading. ;P

April 12, at around 1 pm, my tambay in the ICU ended. I'm back in room 523! I was already allowed to   take liquid food & drinks, and Dr. Lopez told me that I can already eat soft foods the following day.

The next day, I reminded my mom, "Diba pwede soft diet na ko ngayon? Promise yun ni Dr Lopez." And so I confirmed it with my doctor and texted him. Haha. Patay gutom! ;P And then I was already allowed to eat a full meal the next day! Yey! PG talaga. Haha.

But really, I didn't feel like I just went through a major surgery and my head was sliced open. I already had a number of major open-head surgery and I know the feeling after, so I'm already expecting it. But I God never fails to amaze me, super super AMAZING! I really really really did not feel any discomfort or whatsoever. I kept on joking that I am just having a vacation in the hospital. Haha.

April 15, I noticed something really really really great! The sound I'm hearing from my cochlear implant came back. Actually, the sound disappeared before I had the surgery, when the tumor became active. Dra. Chiong said the the tumor might be creating a high pressure in my head that affected/damaged the cochlear implant device. And now that the tumor has been removed, the sound is back! Yey! The sound is only soft though, but it's really back! I texted Dra. Chiong at once and told her the good news. She said that after the swelling, my hearing might improve more. :)

April 16, Saturday - Sooner than we expected, I was discharged from the hospital. Yey! I'm home! I missed sleeping on a real bed. As if hospital bed aren't real. ;P And of course I missed Alice, my PC, but... :( it's sick! It's ok, Alice is in good hands.. ;P

Another progress,i believe: the vision on my right eye improved a bit! it's still blurry but it became a bit clearer! It's like the levels of light became higher compared to before. I'll try to a picture in photoshop to show you what I see.

Super thank you so so so much for all your prayers. Through all you prayers, God moved my mountain again. Thank you!

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By the way, I am continuously selling my items to sustain my forever medical needs. I'll update my sites soon. God bless us!

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