Terrible week of being sick …

11 December 2023 

It has been a traumatic one week for me. I guess I had never been so sick ever before until now. And I am dead serious. Super long post and till now I am still so traumatised by all the vomitting. 

It started from me waking up with a sharp pain in my tummy at 1am. And so I thought it could be due to food poisoning. Instead of having diarrhoea, I was vomitting non stop. I vomitted out the coconut tutu kueh, orange juice, home cooked food… basically everything. So I vomitted every hourly throughout the night. Sent a message to Jianhui to “warn” him how sick I was to him in the middle of the night. Not like we will be going A&E or what, but at least just to let him know and monitor himself too coz we ate the same food. This came as a sudden to me as I was feeling super well in the day with us meeting the family for lunch and even going for a run to Queensway shopping centre on Sunday.  I was still enjoying my MIL’s home cooked food. Oh well, things just happens I guess. 

By morning, I was feeling so sick and can’t even walk. Basically, I was in great pain too and the nausea feeling is killing me. 

In the morning, we tried Doctor Anywhere but there is no available doctor. Also, I think it is not suitable for repeated vomitting. So we quickly went to Raffles medical. Doctor gave us the referral letter to Khoo Teck Puat A&E. He also asked if we needed him to call ambulance, we told him we can manage as I wanted to go home first.

So we went back home pack some stuff (clothes, plastic bags, tissue paper, wet wipes) and then we took cab to KTPH. 

When we reached A&E and saw the crowd, I wanna cry. My queue number is 71 but it’s 50+. So it’s a long wait to register before they triage. After getting the information from me, Then they got me wheel chair for Jianhui to push me to Clinic 31. 

At Clinic 31, the patients all sit in those white plastic chairs or you sit on wheel chairs. I would say they call me rather fast, Dr did ultra sound and told me it is likely to be kidney stones. At least it is not appendicitis. 

All this happened quite fast until they asked you wait outside for medicine before X ray. We waited a long time for medicine then only after jianhui went to ask the doctor, then the nurse started to give me medicine. Don’t know why, I vomitted a lot after taking the medicine. 

Then it’s waiting game again for x ray. I got dressed up and then did the x ray which is quite fast like 10 mins. 

After this, it’s waiting game for drip. And I was told I need to complete 2 packets of drips! By now I ask jianhui to fetch Lexuan from school first while I wait a long. It’s miserable as I was feeling uncomfortable and the chair/wheelchair also not comfortable. I was feeling super tired as I didn’t sleep much the whole night. 

When doctor finally came to me, I am so relieved. He told me the stone is 1.6cm unlikely to be peed out or washed out. I wish to be discharged and he said okay but if I have fever or vomitting or any pain to come back as soon as possible.

After this I thought my waiting game has ended but ended up I waited another 45 minutes to complete the bill and documentation and to make payment by another girl. Argh! 

And what’s next? I need to go to the pharmacy to collect the medicine. Lucky there is no queue for this. But after this, I had to go another counter to make payment again. Why so many counters? 

Then I can finally taking cab to go home. I reached home around 6pm. I showered, ate something light and then ate medicine.  I tried to rest the whole night. 

Lexuan is a totally such a good girl. She helps to take care of what I want like water, etc and sleep with her daddy. She never disturbs me at all. 

12 December 2023

I didn’t sleep well the whole night. I would say I am feeling better as there is no more pain. But I have no appetite. And despite me eating that little amount of food, I would still vomit it out. Even sometimes when I drink water I also feel like puking it out. 

I was also drowsy and sleepy the whole day, resting all day on bed until jianhui came to remind me don’t sleep so much if not I can’t sleep at night. 

I have fever up and down but nothing major. 

I also sleep around 8pm with the hope of feeling better. 

It was another sleepless night. 

13 December 2023

Another day with no appetite. And the vomitting continued after each meal. 

I only receive the Yishun polyclinic appointment at 19 dec for the urine culture test, no news from specialist so far. So jianhui and I started to explore options, given that I don’t think I can be in this stage till Tuesday. He called Khoo Teck Puat and they told me I would have to go through A&E again so that doesn’t make sense. So he called Dr Lincoln Tan and booked appointment with him the next day at 11.30am. 

I don’t know how I survived the whole day but I did. However, late at night, I suddenly experienced shivers with my hands shivering non stop. It’s very bad. I can’t even hold a cup to drink water. I just wriggle around my bed. I also having high fever with the highest temperature recorded at 40.3. 

So it’s another sleepless night as I feel like vomitting (but can’t vomit or nothing to vomit), fever and feeling just unwell. I can’t wait for dawn to break. 

14 December 2023

And I finally made it to the morning. Still no appetite but at least I can eat oat today without vomitting. I rested a while before we made our way to see the specialist Dr Tan. 

Lucky I don’t have to wait long and it’s my turn. Dr Tan looks matured and smart and most importantly, he talks like Jianhui. He told us I am having kidney inflammation and kidney stones which is very serious. I could end up dying if I am much older or weaker from all the things I have experienced. He will admit me today and get me to do all the tests and see what is the next step. 

The ward is not available so I can only go observation Bay. The observation bay costs $100/hr okay. But at least their observation Bay not bad, can lie down and rest. No wonder it is not crowded or rather only 2 patients. 

Very quickly, I did the blood test, urine test. They also gave me medicine. For antibiotics, they gave me Ceftriaxone - a class of medicines known as cephalosporin). Suddenly, I feel that my 2 palms are extremely itchy and so I flagged out to the nurse. That is when I realized my face swollen with hives too. So to my surprise, I am apparently allergic to some antibiotics too. This gave me a scare as my body is already very weak and I am still have this shit to handle. I guess I might really need to do the allergen test soon. 

They quickly stopped the medicine and inserted me with antihistamine. Everything starts to be more normal. Perks of being in a hospital. 

Dr Tan came to check out on me and told me the blood tests results are out. He will see if he can book an operating theatre today for me (which he did!). He also shared the estimated surgery cost will be SGD20k+. What? Lucky the nurse retrieved my records from Prudential and shared that I got the premium one so I don’t have to give any deposit and they will claim from Prudential. Heng ah! 

Next will be waiting for CT scan. Once I feel better, the nurse asked me to do the CT scan which is very fast once I get changed and go in. 

After this, then I was finally pushed up to ward 845. It’s a 4-bedder and my bed is the one nearer to window. It’s not bad as there are 2 toilets for 4 of us. I actually asked for single bedder but they don’t have. I guess everything is fated. 

I rested a while on bed then I got to get ready at 5.30pm to go for my surgery. Around 5.45pm, they pushed me down to the operating theatre. To be honest, I am also a bit worried. Given that i just had a bad medical reaction just now and with my body feeling so weak, what if I have side effects to GA? 🙏🏻🙏🏻 

Jianhui went for dinner once I was pushed to the operating theatre where I was left there to wait. They did a couple rounds of verification to ensure that I know what surgery I am going through. Dr Tan came around 7.20pm as I guess he was being held up by his previous operation since he had one at 4.30pm. 

Just when I was trying to see and count how many staff are inside this operating theatre, I knocked out. 

When I woke up, I was still in shock.

Wondering why am I here for a moment before I suddenly came to realize this is after surgery. It is about 8.15pm. 

Dr Tan showed me the photos and called my husband to say that all is good. 

Suddenly, I started having my shivers and my heart rate is extremely high. They gave me a warmer and I do feel better. My heart rate also gradually went down. I was told that during operation, my blood pressure was extremely low. I feel like peeing but doctor says it is normal. So when I tried to pee on the basic, true enough I have no pee even though i feel like I want to pee.  Around an hour of monitoring, they got the ward nurse to push me back to the ward. 

Back to ward and I am so glad to see Jianhui. And I can finally eat! I have been fasting the whole day. I just drank Milo and ate soda biscuits. Realize that these 2 are really comfort item post surgery or after giving birth. 

It’s time to rest I guess as it as been a long day. Initially I feel a bit hot but it gets better. 

I am under the 6 hours monitoring so they don’t let me go down bed myself. This is something very troublesome as I need to call nurse to go toilet. I tried one time on the bed at basin to pee l but nothing comes out also. They just be thinking that I am crazy. 

The hourly blood pressure check which I failed as it is too low - 70/50 kind. So every hour I Don’t pass, The machine will beep and I have to get them in. It goes on every hour so you can imagine I never sleep the whole night with all this disturbances. First time in my life I have issues passing my blood pressure. 

I feel more freedom when they finally stop the monitoring and I can go toilet freely. So I managed to really pee for real. Went to toilet about 2-3 times. 

There is blood in urine but overall i don't feel much pain. 

I’ve survived the night! 

15 December 2023 

I woke up, feeling much better. I ate my 

breakfast but cannot finish. Dr Tan came over shared that it is unlikely I can be discharged on Saturday as the results might be out only in the afternoon. He told me to drink up at least 2 litres of water, to sit up on chair when I am not sleeping and can even go Starbucks drink coffee with husband. He totally sounds like Jianhui. Haha. 

I had a good shower too. I feel better until lunch time when i got not much appetite and feel a bit nausea. So for lunch, I drank soup and ate a bit of rice and apple juice. 

Jianhui and Lexuan came at this time. So happy to see both of them! And so nice Dr Tan came so Jianhui can ask him questions directly if he has. We are pretty clear of how is the situation so it’s a matter when can I go home. 

Then Jianhui also brought Lexuan home around 3pm+. My tea break is served and the crispy potato is horrible. Or maybe I am not used to eat oily stuff now. Even the Meiji milk tastes weird so I never finish it.  

My Parents came around 5.30pm and I shared what happened to them. The dinner came and I was shocked there is no rice. Apparently the rice only came with main so I never order any main and so I don’t have rice. Lucky I am not too hungry. And I ordered ice cream which turns out to be cake. 

Sis, Alan and Gwyneth also came by. They needed to rush off as they had a dinner appointment. Thereafter, it’s OTOT for me. I took a quick shower, brushed teeth then rested on the bed. 

The pillow is making my head so pain I decided to abandon it. At least it seems to be a better option. 

It’s a night of going toilet. Haha. 

16 December 2023 

Early in the morning at 6am, the nurse woke me up to do blood pressure test and it is 91/62. Then at 6.30am, nurse asked me to do drip. I continued to laze around. Dr Tan came over at 7am to checking out how am I. What a busy morning. 

I waited for breakfast till 9am+. I would say I ate the most amount of food for breakfast today. 

Then I slowly washed up and I was surprised I took half an hour. Longest bath time ever. And when the nurse came to do the blood pressure, it’s BP101/76. Yeah! I kinda passed! 

I started to walk more and I do feel better today. 

Jianhui and Lexuan went jumptopia and they came over around 12pm+ from MBS. 

Just nice, my lunch came too. I do have better appetite and I hope it sustains. Jianhui and Lexuan caught a Dino keychain for me. She got a Dino fun claw. 

Thereafter, Dr tan came and told us that results are out. I will be on 2 weeks antibiotics and to have a follow up with him 2 weeks later for the blood test and X ray again, then we will plan the next stage for me. And I can go home today! Yeah! Best news ever! 

Jianhui and Lexuan went down to eat while I quickly started packing. I am so ready to go home! My spirits are up! 

It’s has been a crazy one week and I’m so glad at least I am home now. Hoping no other major issue that requires me to go back hospital again. 

For now, I will focus in rest and recover. 

To all my friends, do take care of your health! 

Lastly, do buy insurance when you are young, especially if you can afford it.