2009 in review through Youtube!!!

Found this nice video reviewing 2009,

Happy New Year 2009 to all readers. May you be bless with good health and good fortune in the double digit year of 10. May all career man and women promote up the rat race league to a much comfortable payslip although we are all aware that the hierarchy of any company is that of a pyramid and even the best might have to stay at the same rat race league.

For 2010, my goal is to focus on Education. First and foremost will be my part time degree studies. Been getting very good results of As and Bs for year one and I'm not gonna let up on the momentum or allow anything to step in my way in pursue of a higher qualification. Its time to move up the rat race league.

Second, I aim to obtain full SAR66 qualification within 2010. Out of 13 papers, I had cleared 9 and there is 4 more to go. 3 regular MCQ exam and 1 Essay paper. Thank you to Encik "Durian" for all the help with my exam preparation. I own you one.

Finally, I want to recover my leg fracture ASAP and be in good condition to do 2 diving trip this year. Palm is planning a Sipadan Diving trip and I'll most likely revisit Pulau Aur or Tioman again once I recover. Time to bring those fins, mask and wetsuit out of the closet and into the deep blue sea! I really miss Diving.... if not for the fracuture, I would be doing at less a dive trip in Jan 2010.

Thats all the big plans for the New Year 2010. Nothing much to say about career at the moment but a switch is inevitable. I will be back to work next week but how I wish I was in a different career on Work Day 1 of 2010... :).

The road to recovery

Its been almost 3 weeks since the fateful day I had a small operation to surgically implant some metal and screws to hold my bones in place. So far things are looking promising. I am walking better as days goes by and the post ops swelling had more or less subsided. There are still some residual swelling on my ankle region which could be the reason I am still looking slightly awkward when I walk. Of course running, jogging and jumping is out of the question in case I risk buckling the metal implants. Climbing the stair is still a slight challenge though and I definately got to use the hand rail.

Judging the condition so far and comparing right to the left, my right ankle still felt stiff and had not totally restore all freedom of movement. Ankle rotation is still a challenge although I am able to push my foot forward and backward well which helps hell alot with the walking. Been taught by Missy to do some exercise to the foot which will ensure speedy recovery.

Will be heading to TTSH once more after the New Year for the Orthopedic Doc to check how well my bone are healing followed by Physiotherapy session tha.

Few days ago, I headed to Yishun Polyclinic to have the 11 sutures removed. The sutures are no longer required since the surgical wound had healed substantially. What the nurse got to do is to cut each individual loop and pull the sutures out from beneath the healed skin. I can really felt the small little sutures moving beneath my skin and had to experience that sensation for 11 time. A bit of ant prick pain here and there but overall nothing too much to endure. The follow pictures show how my stitches looks like 1 week before its remove and how it look like now. Those brown stuff and regular blood clot necessary to stop bleeding and promote healing.

Fresh from the slaughter house.

Dried and BBQed. Ready to be serve....to the nation.

Oh! Just learn that I won prize from a "caption" contest courtesy of Dive Junkie! The winner was announce via Facebook on 21st November but I only recently check my Facebook's Inbox and learn about winning it. Prize was almost given away to someone else but thanks to Jasmine (from Dive Junkie) for holding on for me. YEAH!!! Time to claim the prize!

Cold hard metal to the bone

Went back to Hospital for followup check today and got myself some goodies...

1 metal plate and 8 screws, huat ah!!!

I am confident they fitted high quality metal and screws to my bones, preferbly Titanium Super Alloy. Those screw sure looks like those I fit on the aircraft or brought from the local hardware store. Glad to know that its not those long screw that go through the Fibula (small leg bone) to the Tibia (big leg bone). I always thought the they had fit the screws this way...



Little did I realize that metal implants for bones looks nothing like science fiction, it just regular plain old screws. I'm sure it makes lots of sound when its drilled through the bones.

Still felt dull pain coming from the broken bone area. Doc told me that its normal to still felt the pain and it should get better as the bone and muscle heals. Apparently, the surgeon had to cut through some muscles and internal flesh to reach the bones and that, according to doc, explain the pain I'm still having.

Still walk funny though and its an unavoidable posture that attracts a certain among of attention from others, especially children who find it interesting (or weird) that human being walk this funny way.

The 35 years old kidnapped victim and his 369 years old wife.

How a typo and math error on Lian He Wan Bao makes an International kidnap case amusing...



Thats a huge generation gap to be married...

POD +6, Post Operation Day 6.

Feeling really good today as I did not rely on crutches to walk around the house for the whole day. Its tiring on my recovering left leg to walk for prolong period of time, it felt like 4 time the effort and energy just to walk but it sure is satisfying to know I can be on my own feet now. Still a long way to go before I can walk like an adult instead of an old man so nutrition, light walking exercise around the house and rest is still the priority. Oh...I'm starting to drive now thanks to the smaller wound dressings on my leg. My road power is back hooray!!! Driving round the neighborhood to the Polyclinic for wound redressing. My right leg felt so different...

Two Syndesmotic screw, that all that is holding, aligning and stabilizing the fracture fibula bones. Its a weird feeling, I can constantly felt its presence in my leg. Felt like some hard object pushing against my muscles which is definitely not my bone since I am accustomed to bone sensation for the past 28 years of Earth existence. The Orthopedic doc told me that the Syndesmotic screw will stay in my leg permanantly, will be with me for the rest of my life unless I lost the limb. Checking out on the Internet however reveal that some victims got the screw taken out after 6 months post surgery. Keeping my finger cross for any outcomes.

While browsing the webby to know more about my current situation and how I could better self-physiotherapy myself back to normal life, I came across this website where people with broken leg gathers and share their stories and knowledge in cast or in screws. Think its pretty informative especially for first-timer (bone breaker) who got much fear, doubts and mystery in their mind surrounding their broken bones. Trust me, you question your condition no matter how good the medical care was. Think a good page to start on will the the FAQ section of the website.

MyBrokenLeg.com

Surgery stitches are healing well and I will be removing my stitches right after Christmas. Yet another bodily experience to go through, pulling threads out of the flesh.

Wound dressing over the stitches. The swelling on the ankle had subsided thanks to massage and Hirudoid cream. Glad my leg hair survived under the casts.

POD +2 , Post Operation Day plus 2

The general anesthesia should had worn off completely by now. My appetite for food is good, I don't feel nausea and tired and I got the mood and energy to pen down my experience two days after the operation.

Anxiety, anticipation and a bit of scary cat feeling. That was how I felt on Friday, the day I am schedule for surgery to implant metal plates and screws to my right ankle. I am looking forward to the surgery because with those metal implants, I will be able to get back on my feet within weeks instead of months. I am already feeling uncomfortable in the cast for 2 weeks and god knows how it will feel to be prisoner of cast for another 2 months. The prospect of been able to walk,drive and at less enjoy the outdoor air and scenery plus enjoying the holiday season with my dear friends and family, this are all the positive thoughts weighing against the little scary cat feeling I had for the surgery.

Its not the surgical knife, the operating theater and the looks of unknown masked man and women of the team that scares me. What I had apprehension on was this "Intravenous Catheter Insertion Device" popularly known as "plug" that is inserted to my left hand with a long thin plastic tube extending into one of my veins. Although I faces bigger needles before from the few occasion of blood donation, the thought of anything stuck into my body give me the creep. Adding to the fear was "Missy" story of some nurse having to poke in and out a few times before getting it correctly "plug in". Describing the procedures now thus give me a creep. First the Anesthetist will wipe alcohol to the insertion area. Next an injection of local anesthetic to the insertion area, this slightly swells up the vein. Finally the "Plug" is inserted with the aid of a access needle within the tiny tube. Once successfully inserted into the veins, the needle is withdraw and the flexible tube stays in the vein. The "plug" is now successfully installed, ready to take in any medication, nutrients, chemical and even potent poisons.

Now I can eat and drink through a tube on my hand.

It isn't painful at all but it isn't comfortable having something foreign stuck to the body. At less the Anesthetist and nurse tries to calm my anxiety by explaining to me whats going on and assuring me its nothing compared to blood donation. That little green plug on top of the "Plug" can be open up and injection of drugs can be administered. The transparent plastic protrusion is where the usual electrolyte drip is supplied through via a long plastic tube.

So now my greatest fear of the surgery was conquered and I'm just lying down waiting for my turn at the operating theater. In fact I am just lying outside the operating theater, occasionally the door swings open and I could hear the sound of grinding and drilling. The surgery was schedule for 11am however I was move down the queue to allow an old lady with hip fracture to have her surgery done first. Ended up moving into the operating theater at 2pm instead. Guess the surgical team realize my long weight for one of the guy came out and thank me for waiting and allow old granny to be operated first, even telling me that he will let old granny know I gave up the Q for her and if she got any grand daughter to introduce to me. Well I guess that was a joke by the surgeon for I didn't hear from any grand daughter this 2 days :).

Dr Anand Pillai, and his team will be operating on my right ankle. He is really burly and hairy with overgrown chest hair that could anytime burst out of his surgical gown. He came out of the operating theater to check on me and flip through a couple of document. We spoke a moment and was ask the usual question that was ask a dozen times by other medical staff , Name, IC, Drug Allergy. Its a dozen confirmation of the same old thing but its necessary. Dr Anand took out his pen and drew a huge arrow on my leg while making a rather nasty joke " Better mark out the correct leg so we won't cut off the wrong one later on." Somehow that little joke makes me relax a little.

Pushed into the operating theater and I am now looking at 3 huge lighting device on the low ceiling, it looks like 3 UFO hovering above me...threatening an alien abduction. The surgical team in mask and gown were walking around doing the preparation The Anestheist and one member of the team stood beside me and ask the usual question again... name and IC number. Next thing I notice was a syringe filled with white colored liquid plugged on top of the "Plug" on my right hand. The oxygen mask was place over my mouth and I suddenly felt a very cold sensation going through my left hand. I remebered clearly the last word I said " Eh!? Quite cold huh?".

I open my eyes and felt like a drunk man. I saw two nurses looking at me. I was totallly lost and confused untill one of them told me the surgery is over and I am at the recovery ward. Looks like I had went into to deep sleep for the 2 hour surgery but there was no dream, no feeling and not even a sense that I was asleep. I still remember the cold sensation going through my left hand and remembered opening up my eyes in this recovery ward, everything in between was a blank. It felt like the surgery finish at a blink of an eye. Very weird and very confusing. Spend the next 1 hour in the recovery ward trying the orientate myself and also drinking plenty of water because I was so thirsty. I looked down at my leg and no longer see a cast but bandages and dressing all around my right ankle region. The surgery is all over and Dr Anand thankfully did not materialize his joke of cutting the wrong leg.

Later on in the day, I was transfered to the ambulatory surgical ward, AS23, where I spend the rest of the days on IV Drip, antibiotics and painkillers. The whole evening feeling tired, had small appetite for food and was blur blur. Although it was only a 1 night stay at the ward, my thoughful friends visited. Missy came before her night shift work together with Corin who is on off day. Eddie walked to TTSH from his office at Revenue House to check me out. Palm and Joa drop by after their work with Subway sandwich and gift of Fish Essesnce drinks they brought from Eu Yang Sheng. Thank you thank you. I am blessed with your visits.

Discharged the next morning with the help of dad and Missy who came straight down to TTSH after her overnight work at NUH. Although the metal implants allows me to but my right feet on the ground again, I was advise to slowly transit from no weight, to partial weight and finally full weight over the next 2 weeks. The stitches are still fresh and the incision wounds are still at an early stage of healing. I'll still be on crutches for the next few days to put pressure off the feet for the time being and I expect myself to start walking before Christmas. Talking about Christmas, My dear bro Alfred and his Wife April will be holding a Christmas eve gathering...can't wait to meet up with the rest. Alfred and April visited me at home after I discharged from hospital. Its good the see the couple coping well with the their soon to arrive baby girl. April tummy had grown significantly and her chatter about their baby girl shows just how much she anticipate her birth. Hahaha....they brought me Essensce of Fish with Ginseng from Polleney! Now I had so much Essesnse of Fish that I am very sure the surgical wound and stitch will see a super speedy recovery before the holiday period. :)

In the meantime, lots of rest and nutrition for the next few days. Looking forward to changing of wound dressing on Monday and removal of stitch 1 day after Christmas.

Casted: Day 7 - Wearing proper shoes

When you are running, wear running shoes
When you are playing field soccer, wear soccer boots
When you are playing tennis, wear tennis shoes
When you are playing badminton, wear badminton shoes
When you are swimming, don't wear shoes.

This is to prevent you from getting injured. :)

Casted: Day 5

Headed down to the Orthopedic Clinic at TTSH for the followup consultation on the fractured bone. Dr Henry recommended that I should undergo surgery to place metal implants to align and aid with the bone healing. The cool thing about the metal implant is that I no longer got to keep the heavy plaster cast on after the surgery. This mean no more plastic bags around my leg during shower and thus I'll be able to move my ankle which is important for driving. However, the metal are there to support, not to bear weight thus crutches are still needed for the rest of the healing weeks or months.

Hmm. I find it surprising that the doctor immediately jumps to the surgical solution instead of keeping everything in plaster. I got this weird feeling at the back of my mind that maybe the hospital needs to earn more money. Excuse me, but I just recently watched "Sicko" and the thought of Medical Care trying to be profitable business lingers on my mind. On the other side of thoughts, they are the doctor, they are the professional... who else should we get an opinion or recommendation other than professional? Didn't take long for me to say yes to Surgery because I know that I had all the insurance and medisave to cover for all the expenses and I don't want my right leg to suffer the same fate as my left leg in the future. Finally, all this years of paying this health insurance is yielding its fruits.

Talking about Health Insurance. ITS VERY IMPORTANT. Why? After meeting a man from Sarawak who suffered the same fate as me, I can better appreciate the importance of all the years of premium payment. By the way, I am not endorsing any Insurance company. This man was on cast for almost 2 months and those bone did not heal properly. He was recommended to go for sugery earlier in the treatment but declined due to financial issues and his company don't subsidise for in-patient surgery. Can really see the stress and slight depression in his face. Not only is $$$$ involved but his job will be at stake as well if he don't recover soon. Where to get the income for himself and the family? If I was in his position, I'll understand how he would had felt when the pocket tightens up upon hearing the cost of surgery. Lets not forget that as a foreigner, he does not enjoy the same subsidised medical care as we Singaporean had (well, you can say its because we pay tax). I wish his all the best and speedy recovery.

My plaster cast was removed after consultation with Dr Henry and after observing that the swelling did not subsides, I had my surgery postponed to next Friday. The nurse at Plaster department applied a different cast on my leg. Its synthetic and lighter than the old cast. All this while, 2 student doctors were observing the entire process. Learn that it takes them 5 years to graduate from University. Their thick glasses is a testament to the wealth of knowledge absorbed from lecture, books and nowadays Internet and Youtube.

Think I did not kept my leg properly elevated for the past few days causing the right leg to continue swelling. Will be on cast all the way till surgery day on Friday. In the mean time, with this new cast on which is thinner, I found a new way to keep my legs properly elevated everywhere I go with crutches.

Casted: Day 3

Been on the cast for 3 days and thank goodness it didn't start to smell or get really itchy as suppose to be expected. The simple modern day convenience of computer chairs and wireless remote controls had now become a "must have" items in the house. Without the remote control, I would have to limp myself to the TV each time I wanna turn it on/off, switch channel or adjust the volume. Without the computer chairs, moving around the house would be so tiring.

I am kinda surprise that I am handling all the challenges of mobility well so far. Had been able to take shower every morning with little assistance, moving around the kitchen to make coffee, getting on the PC, getting on the Nintendo Wii, building up my modern kit with the sudden excess freetime I got. Good thing the apartment is small but spaces are wide enough to move around and most items of necessity are within arm length grab (sometimes a bit of stretching). Still getting use to those heavy plaster cast on my right leg though and I hope it will be change to a fiberglass cast during my followup appointment at TTSH on Friday. Felt like I been chain to an iron ball.

So this long period of absense will be a good one to recover from certain depression and frustration with certain organization. Be a time for reflection and realignment of the thought process. I wonder if things (or accident) happen for a good reason? Last Friday and in fact for the whole 2 weeks after getting back from school examination to work, I had not been in the best of mood and motivation and almost chewed up one of my senior with nasty words. I had been a source of negativity among the juniors. On the last day of long weekend I got a bone fracture that put me out of one misery. Its as though some mightier being up there realize that this boy couldn't survive another few weeks without hurting more people along the way thus mightier being decide to give a little painful fracture and many weeks of peaceful times away from the organization. Oh well, call me and imaginator or story teller or whatever but I certainly felt the injury couldn't had come in the most appropriate time.

Had to put my thanks here to Jack and Sea who dropped by my place to had some work admin issues sort out. Ed, our under appreciated and misunderstood junior will be holding the fort as the skipper right now and I'm sure that without my presensce, his contribution and work will be better recgonized. Kage as usual will be confined to improving our productivity in front of the computer screen and finally our two very junior guy, Caveman and Yammy, will be the important left and right winger. I hope all of them learn more under this "pressured" period and I apologize if I couldn't be aiding them for the time being.

Tonight dinner: KFC delivery...