It Never Rains ...
Cept it does eh?
Soooo Friday morning I was taken into the hospital to get my inner thighs restitched. I was a day patient so there was none of the VIP treatment I got this time last week. I was given a paper gown and hat and kinda left to my own devices really. I was due to go to surgery at 10 am, but they had an emergency - a baby with a broken arm poor little mite - so it was 10.45 before I was walked through to the operating theatre. I managed to persuade them to let me leave my toenail polish on - its such an outdated and unnecessary procedure!
The put the needle in the back of my hand once I’d got myself settled on the table - I’m getting quite a nice collection of bruises on there now! - once it was in, a dose of painkiller was administered swiftly followed by the knock-out drops. Next thing I knew I was back on the day ward and all I could hear was the cackling of the nurses in their staffroom just the other side of my curtain, they sounded like a bunch of hens in the henhouse!
By 2.30 I was getting dressed and heading down to reception to meet with Jasmine and Richard the driver. I had some time before they arrived so I treated myself to a piece of baked cheesecake and a coffee - I was starving! Luckily I wasn’t sick, so it was all good.
I came back to the hotel via the supermarket where I picked up some juices and stuff and got caught in one of the daily downpours. The rain felt amazing on my skin, its been a looooong time since I felt hot rain!
I slept off the after-effects and that was Friday kinda gone really.
Saturday saw me up early for a check on the dressings/wounds, followed by a GG lunch. We were taken for a traditional Malaysian meal, and my goodness it was delicious!!!!! This is the first proper Malay food I’ve had since I got here and I loved the way it was spicy, with a million different sensations on the tongue but not hot for the sake of being hot. Great stuff.
I also got to meet some of the other women who are out here getting work done. It would appear I’m the only Brit, the rest are Kiwis and Aussies and all of em were good fun and great company. I ended up going shopping with two of them for the rest of the day!
First up we hit Sunghei Wang shopping mall, I wanted some more of the RM 20 frocks for my trip to Sabah next week. All the stuff I brought with me is light-coloured and at the moment that’s out of the question with all this ‘fluid’ that’s leaking. The others wanted to check out Bargain Central so off we went.
I got the batik frocks, one purple, one brown and one black/white. I needed a few other bits and pieces, the anti-biotics have given me another dose of thrush and I’m constipated. As I queued at the till in Watson’s the chemist with a box of Dulcolax laxitives and Canesten Combi, I remarked that these possibly were the worst two items to be holding in public if you were trying to meet guys. I said, all I need is some Zovirax for the potential husband to be to realise that all three holes were out of action!
It was such a great day, learning about each other, laughing and teasing - I really, really enjoyed their company! We even had dinner together in Chinatown in between buying tons of fake designer crap. I must say I am getting a rather impressive collection of faux Tiffany bracelets and my Louis Vuitton swimming shorts are to die for!
So after a perfect day with the girls, I was pleasantly worn out when I got back to my room. As I undressed, I felt a twinge in the back of my left leg, and when I looked in the mirror, there was a whole new patch of blood on a different part of my leg. Not again! I was less fearful more frustrated. Was I just gonna keep on tearing??? I got on the phone to GG Jasmine, the poor girl was fast asleep! Had it not been two days away from me going to Sabah for the holiday part of my trip I doubt I would’ve said anything till I saw the nurse in the morning, but I was a bit scared of infection and stuff.
The next call I got came from her boss Lennie, who arranged for the wonderful Endang to come over and take a look at what was going on, and about 30 minutes later she arrived, bless her.
I’d been too scared to take the compression garment off and take a look by myself cos if I’d seen another gaping hole I’d have flipped right out. As it turned out I hadn’t half ripped my leg off, there was a little hole there tho.
Endang cleaned it up and patched me up with some gauze and by 3am I finally got to sleep.
This morning after a shower and breakfast, I was taken again to the hospital where I saw Dr Jalil again This man never gets a day off! Louise, the owner of GG also came along to make sure everything was ok.
Dr J told me there was nothing to worry about, tho by now of course I am worried, this part of my leg was healed, so if nine days after surgery a hole can appear, what chance do I have for the rest of my wounds? I keep being told that this isn’t that uncommon but ya know, it’s my body, this is me it’s happening to, and I am thousands of miles from home! The scariest part of all of this is not even having to cancel my monkey time but the fear that it’s not healed by the time I’m due to get on the plane home, I can’t go, cos an NHS doctor won’t touch me!
I was however, pretty reassured by Dr Jalil, bless him. I was also relieved to hear that he has a colleague up at Kota Kinabalu, where I’ll be staying, there’s a GG rep there too, so as long as my leg doesn’t actually fall off I should be ok!
Endang and Louise brought me back to my room and after they left I set to sorting out clothes to take with me to Borneo, and clothes to leave behind, eg all the light coloured stuff basically! It’s gonna be a blast to travel light!
To add icing to a pretty shitty cake, I went to the loo only to find I was having my second period in as many weeks. I thought menopause meant never having to buy any tampons! It really is all I need right now! I slung one of my kaftans on - they are such a blessing! - and got a cab to the Pavillion shopping centre. I got what I needed from Watson’s, had a wander round the designer shops, had a coffee and a doughnut, then had a good old look around Forever 21. This is the American chain of shops that’s kinda like Primark in price and selection. It was fabulous, but all I got were two funky little shirts for about £5 each, so actually a bit more expensive than Primark.
I jumped a cab and got back to the hotel about 30 seconds before the rain started - it was 4.45, see predictable! - and almost immediately my phone rang. It was Endang, she was in the lobby with Noor and Louise. They came up and checked on my wounds, the inner thigh has opened up yet again but doesn’t seem to be leaking unnecessarily, I have to see Dr J again tomorrow evening, so to be really honest, everything is up in the air till then.
They left and I hit the sack to catch up on some of the sleep I missed out on last night. I got a couple of hours in which sure helped.
I have to mention a cracking book I’m reading at the moment. It’s called Kill Your Friends and its written by someone called John Niven. It’s about a psychotic A&R man in the early 90’s, and its a fantastic read! Micky Flanagan recommended it to me and I’m so glad he did!
Soooo Friday morning I was taken into the hospital to get my inner thighs restitched. I was a day patient so there was none of the VIP treatment I got this time last week. I was given a paper gown and hat and kinda left to my own devices really. I was due to go to surgery at 10 am, but they had an emergency - a baby with a broken arm poor little mite - so it was 10.45 before I was walked through to the operating theatre. I managed to persuade them to let me leave my toenail polish on - its such an outdated and unnecessary procedure!
The put the needle in the back of my hand once I’d got myself settled on the table - I’m getting quite a nice collection of bruises on there now! - once it was in, a dose of painkiller was administered swiftly followed by the knock-out drops. Next thing I knew I was back on the day ward and all I could hear was the cackling of the nurses in their staffroom just the other side of my curtain, they sounded like a bunch of hens in the henhouse!
By 2.30 I was getting dressed and heading down to reception to meet with Jasmine and Richard the driver. I had some time before they arrived so I treated myself to a piece of baked cheesecake and a coffee - I was starving! Luckily I wasn’t sick, so it was all good.
I came back to the hotel via the supermarket where I picked up some juices and stuff and got caught in one of the daily downpours. The rain felt amazing on my skin, its been a looooong time since I felt hot rain!
I slept off the after-effects and that was Friday kinda gone really.
Saturday saw me up early for a check on the dressings/wounds, followed by a GG lunch. We were taken for a traditional Malaysian meal, and my goodness it was delicious!!!!! This is the first proper Malay food I’ve had since I got here and I loved the way it was spicy, with a million different sensations on the tongue but not hot for the sake of being hot. Great stuff.
I also got to meet some of the other women who are out here getting work done. It would appear I’m the only Brit, the rest are Kiwis and Aussies and all of em were good fun and great company. I ended up going shopping with two of them for the rest of the day!
First up we hit Sunghei Wang shopping mall, I wanted some more of the RM 20 frocks for my trip to Sabah next week. All the stuff I brought with me is light-coloured and at the moment that’s out of the question with all this ‘fluid’ that’s leaking. The others wanted to check out Bargain Central so off we went.
I got the batik frocks, one purple, one brown and one black/white. I needed a few other bits and pieces, the anti-biotics have given me another dose of thrush and I’m constipated. As I queued at the till in Watson’s the chemist with a box of Dulcolax laxitives and Canesten Combi, I remarked that these possibly were the worst two items to be holding in public if you were trying to meet guys. I said, all I need is some Zovirax for the potential husband to be to realise that all three holes were out of action!
It was such a great day, learning about each other, laughing and teasing - I really, really enjoyed their company! We even had dinner together in Chinatown in between buying tons of fake designer crap. I must say I am getting a rather impressive collection of faux Tiffany bracelets and my Louis Vuitton swimming shorts are to die for!
So after a perfect day with the girls, I was pleasantly worn out when I got back to my room. As I undressed, I felt a twinge in the back of my left leg, and when I looked in the mirror, there was a whole new patch of blood on a different part of my leg. Not again! I was less fearful more frustrated. Was I just gonna keep on tearing??? I got on the phone to GG Jasmine, the poor girl was fast asleep! Had it not been two days away from me going to Sabah for the holiday part of my trip I doubt I would’ve said anything till I saw the nurse in the morning, but I was a bit scared of infection and stuff.
The next call I got came from her boss Lennie, who arranged for the wonderful Endang to come over and take a look at what was going on, and about 30 minutes later she arrived, bless her.
I’d been too scared to take the compression garment off and take a look by myself cos if I’d seen another gaping hole I’d have flipped right out. As it turned out I hadn’t half ripped my leg off, there was a little hole there tho.
Endang cleaned it up and patched me up with some gauze and by 3am I finally got to sleep.
This morning after a shower and breakfast, I was taken again to the hospital where I saw Dr Jalil again This man never gets a day off! Louise, the owner of GG also came along to make sure everything was ok.
Dr J told me there was nothing to worry about, tho by now of course I am worried, this part of my leg was healed, so if nine days after surgery a hole can appear, what chance do I have for the rest of my wounds? I keep being told that this isn’t that uncommon but ya know, it’s my body, this is me it’s happening to, and I am thousands of miles from home! The scariest part of all of this is not even having to cancel my monkey time but the fear that it’s not healed by the time I’m due to get on the plane home, I can’t go, cos an NHS doctor won’t touch me!
I was however, pretty reassured by Dr Jalil, bless him. I was also relieved to hear that he has a colleague up at Kota Kinabalu, where I’ll be staying, there’s a GG rep there too, so as long as my leg doesn’t actually fall off I should be ok!
Endang and Louise brought me back to my room and after they left I set to sorting out clothes to take with me to Borneo, and clothes to leave behind, eg all the light coloured stuff basically! It’s gonna be a blast to travel light!
To add icing to a pretty shitty cake, I went to the loo only to find I was having my second period in as many weeks. I thought menopause meant never having to buy any tampons! It really is all I need right now! I slung one of my kaftans on - they are such a blessing! - and got a cab to the Pavillion shopping centre. I got what I needed from Watson’s, had a wander round the designer shops, had a coffee and a doughnut, then had a good old look around Forever 21. This is the American chain of shops that’s kinda like Primark in price and selection. It was fabulous, but all I got were two funky little shirts for about £5 each, so actually a bit more expensive than Primark.
I jumped a cab and got back to the hotel about 30 seconds before the rain started - it was 4.45, see predictable! - and almost immediately my phone rang. It was Endang, she was in the lobby with Noor and Louise. They came up and checked on my wounds, the inner thigh has opened up yet again but doesn’t seem to be leaking unnecessarily, I have to see Dr J again tomorrow evening, so to be really honest, everything is up in the air till then.
They left and I hit the sack to catch up on some of the sleep I missed out on last night. I got a couple of hours in which sure helped.
I have to mention a cracking book I’m reading at the moment. It’s called Kill Your Friends and its written by someone called John Niven. It’s about a psychotic A&R man in the early 90’s, and its a fantastic read! Micky Flanagan recommended it to me and I’m so glad he did!
Labels: Travel
posted by JoJo Smith at Sunday, October 19, 2008
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