Long Road to Recovery

I must be hallucinating if things were really hunky dory after the operation.

On Thursday evening, I brought home a very frail Daddy Lim. Everything has to be in slow-motion and every breath was causing him some pain. Coughing, burping, sneezing are worse. Sudden movements sent him into some pain spasm. Pain = increased heart rate = more air required = more gasping for air = more pain and more breathlessness. Each episode not only casuse him to moan in pain but also to gasp for air. It wasn't a pretty sight. The pain and breathlessness only improved when he finally managed to control that his breathing.

We had orginally wanted him to sleep in the kids' room but realised that he wouldn't be able to get into and off the bed properly due to the bed's fall barricade. He wasn't able to lie down but had to sleep in a sitting position, propped up by pillows; the hospital automated bed would be so useful. To prevent accidentally knocking into him,  he had the whole big bed to himself even when he only took the edge of it while we all huddled in the kids' room.

The 1st night, he said that he had 2 episodes of insane pain, all bcos his bum got numb and he needed to change position. When he woke up, another wave hit him bcos he tried to get off the bed too quickly. The pain was so bad that we discussed about going back to the A&E until he popped his arcoxia and realised that it is all about pain management. It was such a blessing that I was again allowed to work from home. Daddy Lim was definitely comforted by my presence.

I am now the official recently converted Maria. From preparing medicine, making coffee, bringing warm water at the sound of every cough to preparing and strategically placing the pillows on the bed. How come I am busier than before Daddy Lim came home? Luckily, it was the weekend and I was able to concentrate on my Maria's duties.

Fortunately, things are definitely looking brighter by the day. The crazy intense pain episodes are reducing and he is starting to breathe with lesser pain and is managing light coughs as well. With lesser pain also means better night rest. Each night when I check on him, he is sleeping soundly like a baby though still very much in a sleeping position. There is also not much need for acroxia or other pain medicine.

The road to recovery will indeed be long. He has a long MC until the end of April. Meanwhile, he is absolutely fully utilising the new PS4 and the Netflix subscriptions.

He didn't look very sick to me. Hohoho. Maybe it is all part of his conspiracy to make me serve him. Lol. What did I gain? I am improving on my driving bcos I had to drive the kids everywhere now. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Crazy Ordeal Part 2

I missed the hospital call on Wednesday night; I was dead beat and was feeling so bad about it in the morning. Fortunately, I managed to call back and was connected to the ward. The information was very limited but at least I know that Daddy Lim had been sent back to the ward. He must be ok right? Otherwise, they would probably keep him somewhere else.

Then at 7ish, Daddy Lim WhatsApp me. He must be doing well enough to be able to text me to say that he had taken bfast, kway teow but absolutely lacking eggs and meat. Lol. I was fortunately allowed to work from the hospital in the afternoon and could buy meaty lunch for Daddy Lim. He didn't have much appetite but was craving for his kopi.

As he napped and rest, I was busy taking calls and doing work at the visitor lounge. I received a text that he could be discharged at 5.30pm bcos the final x-ray showed that what was done was in place and intact. By the time I headed back to the ward, he was all changed and ready to go.

Seriously, we were both wondering if he was ready to be discharged. I mean, he just had an operation the night before! Even though it was a keyhole operation, it is one nevertheless. I half suspect that the doctors didn't want him in the hospital given the current covid-19 situation or maybe there wasn't enough bed. Anyway, it was time to bid farewell and we headed for home with a huge bag of medicine.

I wheelchaired him to the taxi stand and we slow-motioned home.

Did he feel better after the surgery? Not exactly. He said that the breathing is just as bad and there was a lot of pain. Zzzzzzz.

Thank you to all the prayers warriors who prayed for Daddy Lim during this difficult time. To those who have given me virtual emotional support to last me through the ordeal. Muaks.

Mummy Lim

Crazy Ordeal Part 1

It all started on Sunday early morning. We decided to skip the morning ride bcos Daddy Lim felt funny - a familiar funny. It turned out to be pneumothorax, something that he had when he was 16.

He had a needling procedure, to withdraw air from his chest cavity. The doctor was happy after 4 hours of observation and sent him home. We thought it was all good and he even had a sumptuous dinner at my brother's place.

On Monday, he had a different medical appointment at the same hospital. We had bfast together after he drove the kids to school and then he made his way to the appointment. The doctor on the way, by the way, asked him to do a chest x-ray. It was then revealed that the right lung had collapsed again, requiring him to be warded for more invasive procedure. He was upset bcos he hadn't had his lunch. Haha.

Fortunately, he managed to find lunch before he was warded. He needed a CT scan and if surgery is required, he would be transferred to NUH, subject to bed availability, bcos that is where the lung experts are. By the time his CT scan was done, it was too late for the transfer. At least I managed to buy him dinner and kept him happy in that sad situation.

Bcos Daddy Lim was worried that it would be deemed as a pre-existing condition, he checked himself into a C class ward. It was a little depressing and gloomy. Sob.

With Daddy Lim warded, I am the official driver to send the kids to school. It wasn't too bad, I didn't bang anything and the kids were safely sent to school. Hohoho. Visiting regulations were tight with the Covid 19 situation and the kids were not allowed to visit him. My role was to keep the family connected and updated with daily pictures.

On Tuesday, he had a transfer when the bed in NUH was finally available. By then, it was already late afternoon. At least he was well fed for bfast and lunch but whether it was delicious or not is a different story altogether. I visited him in NUH in the evening and bought him dinner. He had a couple of x-rays taken and there was no improvements to his condition. A GA surgery was scheduled on Wednesday afternoon 1pm if nothing goes wrong. We were told that he would be using the Emergency Operating Theatre and his surgery is dependent on whether there are more serious and urgent cases. Regardless, he had to start fasting from midnight in prep, delays or not.

On Wednesday, the surgery was delayed as expected. I had wanted to work from the hospital or take a day's leave but Daddy Lim convinced me not to since we don't know if the surgery would proceed as planned.  The bone specialist came by and was worried that his AS would pose problems to the surgery. He had a few more neck x-rays as if it was simply photo taking. Hours dragged by and we had a very hungry man. Hoho.

He was just getting ready for the surgery when I arrived at 5ish. It must be God's timing to allow me to catch him before he proceeded to the OT. We said a quick pray before he was wheeled off.

He was still very hungry and was looking forward to his 1st meal after the surgery. This was all that he had since midnight.

I am not sure if it was bcos the hospital was overloaded with yeh Covid-19 situation or that he was in C ward but information came in very slowly and in bits and pieces. We have no idea how long the surgery will take and ended up looking for most of the information off google. Win already.

Daddy Lim said that the surgery would take about 1 to 2 hours. I was in the visitor lounge and learnt that I could see his progress through the screen.

I decided to feed myself and went back to the lounge after a nice dinner.

It was almost an hour later and I could see that Daddy Lim was being operated on.

When there is so much waiting, the most important is to have a hp with enough battery.

It was a very long wait. I was toggling between watching k drama, playing games and watching YouTube videos. As it crept into the 2nd hour, I was getting more impatient and needed to conserve battery too. It didn't help that the kids were waiting at home and Zaky was whiny, asking me to return home to tuck him to bed.

After like over 3 hours, I could finally see that he was in the Recovery Room.

While I wasn't 100% sure what that means, my guess was that the operation had concluded. It was another good 15 mins before I finally received a call from the nurse. I was told that Daddy Lim's surgery was indeed concluded. He also had a x-ray taken and would be moved back to the ward after the surgeon is happy with the outcome. 

I was given a chance to peep at him. He was conscious and the only thing that he said was how much bloody pain he was in and asked me to ask the nurse if that was normal. The nurse said that he would feel some "discomfort" due to the chest tube that was inserted. *Discomfort* was definitely underrated. 

I finally went home to the kids. The nurse said that they would call me again after the doctor had reviewed the x-ray. It was so physically tiring and emotional draining. I was so glad that it was over. 

Mummy Lim

Another A&E Visit

It is only March and I had been to A&E 2x already. The 1st was Popo, who vomited so much due to her vertigo. The GP was worried that it could be the onset of stroke and had her sent to NUH A&E via ambulance. It was very drama, siren and all. She had a 1 night luxurious stay at the A&E observation ward before declared as cleared of possible stroke. 吓死人.

This morning, we had dated some of the WWF riders to ride to LP1. Daddy Lim woke me up at 6am and said that he didn't feel so well; he suspected that he had another episode of pneumo.. something. I didn't quite catch what he said. My instant reaction was to secretly feel pleased bcos I can sleep more.  I told him that we would skip the ride and I wanted to go back to lala land. Then it struck me - anything that starts with pneumo something in these times doesn't sound good. I jumped out of bed.

Daddy Lim suspected that he had another episode of pneumothorax, which is the bursting of air bubbles in the chest cavity, compressing and collapsing the lungs. He had the 1st episode in his left lung when he was 16 and he now had the same shortness of breath and bubbling feel in his chest in certain positions.

The original thought was to visit the nearby GP when the 1st one opens at about 8.30am. Then we decided that maybe we should go to the A&E as early as possible, before the world wakes up, just in case it is something more serious.

Daddy Lim was still well enough to drive us to Ng Teck Fong hospital in JE. The A&E was cornered off and 闲查人等 were not allowed into the A&E area. It was a long wait. He had his ECG and X-ray taken, as well as a botched blood withdrawal. The nurse wasnt able to draw blood from his right vein and wanted to try on his left side but subsequently forgot about the blood test altogether. Like that also can?!?

After about 2 hours of wait, he WhatsApp me that it was indeed a case of pneumothorax. The doctor had inserted a needle and extracted like 1000ml of air from his right lung and he was kept in for 4 hours for observation. Another x-ray will be taken then to decide if he can be discharged or warded if the situation worsen. Heng we decided to skip the cycling to LP1 in the morning.

What causes pneumothorax? It could be trauma or infection or for no apparent reason.  Yes, I admit, I boxed him. It is apparently common in tall and skinny men. Congrats Daddy Lim, you have officially been recognised as "skinny". Hoho.

While he said that it wasn't the most comfortable with the beeping machines and the pain from the incision, he complained more about being hungry and not being fed. Poor thing. He didn't eat bfast somemore.

The 2nd x-ray was taken 4 hours later and he can be discharged! He said that it was originally 5cm and the 2nd x-ray showed only 1cm, though we both have no idea what that really means. The 1st thing that he did was to look for lunch upon discharged while waiting for me to pick him up.

He looked very much ok when I got him such that he can still take over the wheels and drove me to my brother's place to meet up with the kids and drove himself home. He has to go back to the hospital for another x-ray and review tomorrow and another one 2 weeks later. He was advised not to exercise for the next 2 weeks to allow time for the lungs to recover.

又是吓死我了.

Mummy Lim

RI Again, RI no. 2

I still remembered our 1st half RI with WWF in mid 2018. We were still on our MTB and uturn at Seletar airport while the rest continue with the RI ride. I also clearly remembered how cui I was at the Seletar Airport break point, to the extent to want to throw my bike anyhow so that I could sit down and rest my poor legs.

Fast forward to 2019 and one of my resolutions was to complete an RI. By then, we were on our roadies and I think I completed 2 RIs in that year. One extra for bonus.

In January 2020, we did our 1st RI. Very good, can check off the resolution list already. Daddy Lim siao on and said that he wanted to do one RI every month... I don't think I am with him on this one. Hohoho.

We didn't do any RI in February. Phew. But Daddy Lim was quick to suggest to the group to do one in March. Come, come, who 怕 who.

We had a big group last night and decided to have 2 rolling trains, with the slower riders starting off 30 mins earlier. We were definitely in the slower train. We wanted to do an RI and not to kill ourselves with an RI.

It was an uneventful ride, though my toes started to cramp up even before we started riding. That is usually what I get in the night when I am in my work shoes and walked too much in the day. Nevertheless, it wasn't too bad especially with the help of the muscle rub. The pace was also comfortable and we were aided by the tailwind at some point.

The faster group caught us with us at Marina Barrage.

I probably had overexert at the long TMCR stretch. There was tailwind and I was drafting a fellow cyclist closely. By Barrage, I was generously smearing the heat rub on my calf. For the remaining ride, my calves and thighs were threatening to cramp up anytime.

Fortunately, other than the usual toe cramp, my leg muscles didn't go into some major spatism and throw me off the bike. It was strange; I wasn't that tired mentally or feel tired other than the very 酸 legs. The supper break at WCP MacD was very much welcome.

We made it home safe and sound.

Woohoo! 102km! It had been a long 6.5 hours ride.

The kids were so nice and allowed us to sleep in until 10am this morning. At times like that, it is so nice to have older kids. Hoho.

Mummy Lim

To the Dentist

I dont like to bring the kids to the dentist. There are dentists in school and the kids should make use of that free service, right?

Every now and then, Zaky would complain about some toothache and I would 敷衍 him a bit and then encourage him to go to the school dentist. Sometimes he does, sometimes, the pain dissolved on its own.

He has super bad oral hygiene. The number of times that he brushes his teeth per day is dependent on how often we remember to yell/ nag at him to do so, which also explains why he needs to visit the dentist so much more frequently than jiejie needs to. Tooth decay, baby root canal, gum infection. You named it, he had it. Zzzzz.

On Wednesday evening, he complained and whined about pain in one of his premolars. Haiz, again?!? The tooth was shaky, hurting and irritating him. Fortunately it was nearing bedtime and I managed to convince him to sleep over it.

The kids spent the whole of y'day afternoon at my brother's place. The tooth didnt cause problem the entire day but for some magical reason, the pain and irritation intensified by 200 folds the moment I stepped into my brother's home. The pain intensity is confirmed directly proportional to my proximity.

Zaky whined so much that we decided to bring him to the nearest dentist after dinner. I am so glad that my current company's insurance plan includes dental coverage and that nearest dentist clinic is on the panel list.
 Hohoho.

We arrived at the clinic shortly before closing. The clinic assistant actually wanted to turn us away but took pity on the suffering boy.. actually the suffering mummy who was trying her best to endure the endless whining. While I was busy filling up the form, the numbing gel was applied and the boy was soon urshered to the dentist chair. Before I even had time to pop into the treatment room, the problem causing tooth had been yanked out. Hooray! 

Bcos it was fully covered by insurance, it didn't cost us a cent. I even booked him for a regular cleaning and scaling session. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 201: So Many Changes

When I first heard that the National Competition is coming up in mid April and Lil Shauna is keen to join, I went on Taobao to order her leggings and costume. The last costume has become too small and has fuzzballs all over after several wears. Ya, they only last that many wears.

That was in January before CNY. The CNY delayed the package and the legging eventually came about a month later. Then the virus came along and the costume that is usually produced upon ordered, never arrive. I was told that the vendor couldn't advise the delivery date and it all depends on the virus situation. Die le. Fortunately, I was allowed to cancel the order and had a refund.

Then, I went on a mad frenzy to try to find another source to buy her costume. I didn't find a local vendor (unless I want to pay through my nose to get a tailored made one that could easily cost a few hundred bucks) and eventually ordered from Light in the Box. The shop is based in US and I have no idea if it is trustworthy but I have little choices. After the order was placed, it was daily tracking of the package delivery. Lo and behold, the package was mailed out from China. Chey, the US company also ordered from China leh.

After 2 weeks of antagonizing wait, we finally received the package yday. Hohoho.

Just when I thought that everything is on track, Coach Raymond informed that the National Competition has been postponed until further notice due to the virus situation. Zzzzzzz. Ok lor, we just have to take it as having more time to practice. 

With the postponement of the competition, we also paced out the SISA ice practice. Lil Shauna had her 1st SISA ice after 2 weeks' break; Coach Raymond just came back from his 2 weeks' Japan holiday. No, he doesn't have any flu symptom and is healthy and well. 

Her lesson was at 7.30am this morning and all thanks to flexibility in working hours, I could watch her before rushing off for work. She was.. or at least looked lethargic as I looked at the other strong skaters zoomed by. Errr.... skate faster leh. Also bcos of the competition postponement, Coach didn't make her do her program today. It was the usual footwork, jumps and spins. Well, at least there were a few proper Axel jumps. 

She tried Axel + loop jump but wasn't successful. 

The last part was on the spins. I thought there was a couple of decent camel spins where she held on to 3 rounds. 

Her camel + sit spin failed badly though. Fighting!

Coach had decided that he would be including an Axel jump in her program! Woohoo! While Lil Shauna is anxious about it, I think she isn't too intimidated. Like I always say, it is like a switch; once she gets it, it is like the switch turned on and it becomes so easy thereafter. I hope she finds the "switch" to her camel and broken leg spin soon. 

Mummy Lim

More Fishy Business

It all started with a Kdrama that I just completed watching. Long story short, the drama was set in a hospice setting where people died like throughout the drama.  The point is - life can be short and vulnerable and we should live life to the fullest and happily. So, the kids had been bugging to add on their fishy friends and kdrama helped them this time. Yay!

We were told that somewhere in Clementi neighbourhood, there is a whole row of fish shops with good selection. The kids were told that they could each select 1 fish. Lil Shauna was super keen on a puffer fish. Surprisingly, puffer fish could survive in fresh water but we were told that it has teeth and would attack the other fishes. Zaky wanted shrimps but those require super clean water... errrr... we confirm have sub-standard water.

In the end, Zaky ended up with 2 male guppies bcos 1 is too lonely. Lil Shauna got 3 dont know what fishes that need at least 3 for companion. What strange fishes. Then Daddy Lim brought a plant to calm the fishes. The fishes have such good life.

The kids excitedly do the needful to acclimatize the fishes before they are finally added to their new home.

We now have a total of 12 fishes and had killed 9 from the longkang fishing. Let's hope the rest survive.

Mummy Lim

Fishy Business

Our kids, like most kids yearn for pets. Their dream pet is of course some 4-legged fluffy, furry thing but they are desperate enough to settle for anything else including house lizards and spiders. No!

They once had fishes that surprisingly lasted a couple of months. While the kids, particularly Zaky was very responsible in caring for the fishes, the cleaning tasks fall more and more on Popo towards the end. Don't look at me. I cannot stand fishes or plants. They fall in the same yucky zone for me.

The kids branded us as the evilest parents when my brother got a puppy for the 3Fs. I stood my ground; I am not going for a "3rd kid" that never grow up. I continued to dangle my carrots for the kids to work hard for their SAs before we talked about any 4-legged pets.

Last Sunday, we finally relented and allowed the kids to go longkang fishing with the Fs. We have officially re-secured the best parents title again. Hoho.

Like the last time, the kids were allowed to pick and choose 5 of the most prized fishes to bring home after they had fun torturing and hauling the poor fishes. Zaky was upset that he accidentally released one that he wanted to bring home. Lil Shauna took such a long time that I gave up and she ended up bringing 11 of them home. We got a bigger tank, new food and air pump for the fishes. Hopefully they live longer.

The fishes survived the journey home alright. Only one didn't make it. Daddy Lim and the kids then happily set up the new home for the kids. The kids dug out the old ornaments that we brought for the last batch and were mega happy.

Tadah!

The water turned murky overnight such that the kids were insistent to change the water last night. The kids orchestrated the whole water changing mission. I was eye-powering and giving instructions at the side. Ya, I do not like fishes or their smelly water. Hoho.

Mummy Lim

Kissed by a Bee

What are the odds of being stung by a bee? Daddy Lim said that he had never gotten a bee sting. I am not too sure if I had been too lucky or unlucky but yours truly had been stung 3 times, 3 bloody times.

The 1st was a long time ago. I was on the way to Bukit Gombat for work and was riding on my beloved Phantom. The bee got stuck at my watch and stung me. Come on, I wasnt even at fault. Anyway, that was the time that I realised that I am not allergic to bee stings; they just hurt big time.

The 2nd time was in one of Thailand theme parks and that was my indeed my bad. I big fat sat on a poor little bee and squashed it dead. Before it died, it took revenge and stung me on my thunder thigh. That was bloody painful too.

I got stung for the 3rd time y'day while riding with the WWF pack. We were on the way home on Mandai and on the downslope when I felt a buzzing something flying into my face. It flew itself right into my lips and almost into my mouth. I half tried to swipe it away with my hand and half trying to spit it off, along with my half-eaten fisherman mint.

I did but the damage was done. Boohoo. I didn't even do anything to do it. It was the one who decided to fly into my face when there was so much open space.

The sting was still stuck on my lips when we stopped for regroup. Daddy Lim helped me take a pic for memory sake. I mean, how rare is that?

He tried to remove the sting by hand but wasn't successful. The removal wasn't painful. We kept the sting all the way until we were home and had to use a tweezer.

There wasn't any pain other than the initial sting. The pain was also less intense than previous ones.

This morning, I woke up to 香肠嘴.

Oooo.. so sexy. No need to spend money on fillers. Lol.

Mummy Lim

Contact Lenses

The Hoya lenses are ready, much to our surprise. We were told that they could take up to 6 weeks but we got ours in 1. We collected the new glasses and at the same time, have Lil Shauna learn how to wear contact lenses. Yes, we bought her contact lenses, largely to wear during ice skating.

The lenses on the glasses had visible "honeycomb" patterns. Lil Shauna said that the initial sensation is weird. The honeycomb design causes sharp and blur vision. I am not sure how that helps but we will know if they work after 6 months. The optician said that these glasses are not meant for sports and the kids should change back to their single vision glasses like during PE. So 麻烦 right? The kids didn't believe me when I told them that wearing glasses is troublesome. Mummy knows best!

Lil Shauna doesn't wear her glasses on ice despite being very blind in 1 eye. The glasses would probably fly when she spins and jumps on the ice. When we asked if she would like to try contact lenses instead, she jumped at the opportunity.

We were told that the "learning" would take about half an hour. We headed down on Sunday morning in hope that she would be able to wear the trial pair for ice skating.

She took longer than 30 mins. The 1st attempt was tough. She kept thinking that she would poke herself blind. Zzzzzzz. The left eye was easier. She attempted to wear it for 3x and removed them twice during the session. Throughout, the optician patiently helped her to clean and reclean the lenses and put them in position (on her finger). Who would help her do that next time? She also killed 1 pair, dropping them onto the floor.

The contact lenses gave her headache in the beginning but she persisted. She wore them to ice skating and for the 1st time in a long time, she was skating with clear vision. What is more comforting is that she still remembers her Axel jump. Hohoho.
We also took time to try to be graceful and dramatic to her competition routine and I have to say that we are making progress.

She wanted to remove the contact and fortunately successfully did so. If she didn't, I wouldn't be able to help and would have to bring her back to the optical shop.

She said that it was easier to take them out than to wear them.

Her new glasses look.

I am glad that she didn't react adversely to the contact lenses. Lil Shauna said that she has classmates who started contact lenses since last year. The kids really do start young now.

Mummy Lim