im going skiing.... yeee haaaaa...!!!

oh yeah... right!

went to the hospital this mornng.. to be fitted with a boot. its a plastic boot with straps and all, almost alike a ski boot. i had to wear a football socks underneath for hygiene purpose, but its all making my right foot all warm and sweaty.

the boot is quite heavy. can only take it off during shower and sleep. otherwise, it stays on. wednesday next week, i'll be seeing the doctor again to take the stitches off. and i'll be on mc again until that date.

someone invited me to shoot some thaipusam photos. like duh! he's well aware of my limited mobility situation, and yet still insist that i accompany him. oh, he's the same person that didn't dare including me at the canon zoo negara photo shoot. so, its pretty much confirmed.. he doesn't really dare to compete with me. hahaha.....

on another note, a mares team is leaving for batu pahat this evening. mares will be leading a group of volunteers with essentials, food, medical and school supplies to be delivered to hard to reach flood victims and those who havent received any aid from other groups.

... and oh, the boot is made in california, usa.

another day at the hospital

salams people...

day 1.
first of all, the good doctor didnt allow me to take photos while being operated on. oh, i was awake. wide awake during the operation as i was only on epidural. no knock-out gas or pill or anything.

back track a lil bit. the morning of the operation, i woke up before fajr. took a shower, brush my teeth and left the room to look for a prayer room on the floor. the on call nurse said, 'kat sini tak ade, kat ground floor ada surau'. so i told her i'll be going to the surau on the ground floor and be back by 6.40 am after i had my breakfast. hehehe.. the look on the nurse's face was priceless! 100% pure shock and horror!!! had to calm her down saying i was just kidding about the breakfast. ahahaha...

so, about 6:45 they came for me. i changed into the hospital gown, bla bla bla... went to get the epidural needle stuffed in my back by the anesthesiologist. didnt hurt at all. then we rolled into the operation theatre, all prepared and with the cd playing.

we, that is the surgery team and i listened to music by cat stevens and others throughout. and we chat. the doctor described what he was doing to me as i cant witness it myself. twas cool. and occasionally i would sing along. towards the end of the surgery, when they were focusing on stitching me up with this fiber suture, i read a magazine that i brought along. almost immediately after the operation, i had my breakfast.

one good thing about not being knocked out is that i didnt suffer from the usual groggy and nauseating feeling most get when they come to. i was starving and stuffed myself up without any problem. hehehe....

but waist down was still numbed. had a major tough time to pee.

day 2.
the good doctor came to see me early in the morning. said i could go home later in the day if i wanted to. then, i was sent to the rehabilitation centre for some exercise and to learn the way of the crutches. the exercise involved latex rubber and bonding of my legs (see pic). kinky, eh? after the bondage session, it was the crutches. scared the life out of the physiotherapists when i went way too fast with the crutches. ahahaha... was funny. and i did ask if its driving lessons after the crutch session. :)

the doctor came again in the afternoon and decided he should keep me for another night. he was of the opinion that i was too active to be let loose home early. anyway, the hospital protocol was to keep me for a minimum of two days. oh well, another night for me.

day 3.
my right leg was feeling a bit numb. was like this since yesterday afternoon. the doctor came and undo the bandages as it was a bit tight. mmm... the feeling of blood returning to the foot was heavenly. the wound is healing nicely (see pic). i was left without bandages for about 15 minutes before they wrap me up again, a lot loosely this time.

my regular student nurse came and asked whether i wanted a bath. as i was feeling a bit sticky, i asked her to help. she got all the stuff ready, and i took my shower by myself. no way im letting her give me a bath. hahaha.. my right foot is still feeling a bit numb. i think i'll call the nurse. now, the hospital aide is here with a wheel chair to take me to rehab for another round of kung fu crutches!!!

Ops Banjir Batu Pahat 19-21 Jan 2007 and Ops Pantai 23 Jan 2007

Greetings people...

It's been more than a month... been very very busy lor. Raya Haji and New Year and Maal Hijrah pun tak sempat nak blog. Many things have transpired but... didnt have time to blog. tak de interesting mana pun.

i went to batu pahat recently, to participate in relief mission under mares. you guys can go and read about it at mares website. there are many groups providing relief to the victims... but some took the easy way out and distribute only to relief centres that are already getting a lot of support. there are relief centres that have not received anything.

we discovered one relief centre that had not received anything from the relevant department, just because the centre was in the compound of a different political party. so its up to ngo like us to supply food and essentials to this place. outrageous i think. mares is not a relief organisation. our mission is to provide emergency communication network, but occasionally mares has to jump into doing humanitarian work to fill the gap. and when we did, the look of joy on the recipients face was enough. especially from the children... especially from the children.


i met a rodong from kuala krau. thats in central pahang, between temerloh and jerantut. so we went speaking in various pahang dialects - from pekan, temerloh and kuala tembeling dialects, much to the chagrin of a couple other friends. ahahaha.... rodong is in blue - emmy. in green is tank, in red is serina and finally fahroe in the background.

and on monday 22 jan 2007, checked into pantai medical bangsar for a scheduled surgery - brostrom -gould procedure. went under the knife fully conscious. an epidural to numb waist down.. couldnt feel the leg at all. no pain. no sensation. as i was fully conscious, they said i was the first patient to be chatting with the doc, sing a tune (the doc had some nice music on) and reading a magazine. hahaha... my first time hospitalized, my first surgery too since infant.

okay.. nuff for now. 73 take care. be safe, be good.