Wednesday, June 28, 2006

there's something about ..... burning sensation

This is a dirty word. It's like they tell you at every injection that it felt like an ant-bite. They told me "you will feel some discomfort and some burning sensation". RIGHT... BURNING SENSATION!!!

By the way, I must have scared myself silly about my medical condition. They discovered Kidney Stones from the CT Scan last week, but decided that Cystoscopy is still necessary just to isolate the diagnosis further.

The kidney stones aren't too big and my cyst is benign in nature. What a relief. And this news came after they have done the Cystoscopy on me... So it was DOUBLE THE RELIEF! And I really meant it literally.

This scope thingy is big. The sight of it is enough for you to quit. And you always think... maybe... they will give you an Anesthetic to ease whatever "discomfort" (MY FOOT) and "Burning Sensation" (I would have given her my middle-finger, but since my anatomy is fully exposed... I felt that is not necessary).

No Anesthetic.

And you always worried on few fronts. The Pain, the result.... and WHO WILL DO IT ON ME.

And you think a nurse in uniform with my dick exposed is kinky, I can assure you any remote chance of an erection is out of the picture. She is probably the only Aunty in the Singapore who has seen the most dicks in a day. And she has a face that you wish she won't touch you for risk of having a phobia.

Before the procedure, she will keep telling you about the "little" discomfort. The thing is I don't always take things at face value. Having a scope going thru your Dick Hole is not what I would imagine a discomfort is.

And so I lie on the procedural table for a good 10 mins. In that 10 mins, it was hell. I dunno which is worse... the anticipation on what to come... or the actual thing. It doesn't help that the full sight of the cystoscope is next to me. I try to close my eyes and sing.

The first doctor came. I thought he was the Urologist but it turn out he is another intern. His job was to prepare my dick. He cleaned the whole area. After a while, he told me he is going to "inject" a gell into my dick to ease the insertion of the scope.

MY GOD!!! Imagine a solid liquid being forced into your dick hole. My whole leg cramped up. The nurse hold down my leg and told me to relax.

The feeling is a bit of pain, a lot of awkardness and a quite a fair bit of "burning sensation".

During this process, my eyes were closed. I just could not bring myself to witness this. I thought they would also "once and for all" also insert the cystoscope into me to "strike the iron when it's hot". But no........

I wonder what happened. But the next 5 mins, the doctor was cupping my dick. The nurse also left the room. Perhaps it was for the gell to settle in. Might as well, my whole body was so tense up to the cupping that I thought this 5 mins was good for me to relax.

Then the Urologist came in. Apparently, the waiting was for the actual Doctor to come in to perform the procedure on me. Suddenly, 2 other nurses came in. And I know.... Here Cums.

MY GOD TO THE INFINITY!!! This must have ranked the lowest in my life. The insertion of the scope into my dick is not only painful... but you could actually also feel the scope being wringgled into your dick and into your bladder. The awkardness of that sensation is killing.

I cramp up again. All four of them was telling me to relax. (HELLO.... HAVE YOU TRIED THIS?!??! RELAX??!?!?) One of the nurse was telling me to look into the monitor to see how the internal of my organ and bladder looks like. She said perhaps after I look into the monitor, I will know what happen and I wouldn't be so tense. (HELLO.... HAVE YOU TRIED THIS?!?!?!?)

Next come an acute pain. A Short one. After that, the Doctor said "it's in".

The pain lessen. But the awkwardness remains as the doctor was turning the scope within my dick to see the whole bladder. Each Turn of the scope, I cramp up.

The Doctor decided to do a quick one seeing my inability to relax. So he just took more pictures and soon after it was done.

I guess.... my dick was too sore that when they remove the scope, I actually didn't feel anything.

It was a relief.

They told me that I will face some "burning sensation" when I urine for the next few days.

Nabeh. Let me tell you.... urinating now is so painful that I'm trying to hold my bladder as long as I could and cut down the number of times.

Moral of the story... drink lots of water. Stay Healthy.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

there's something about ..... cyst

I felt more relax now and decided to blog about my problem.

I had a Ultra-sound scan on Monday by a Urologist and they found a cyst in/on my kidney of about 5cm in size.

I was shocked. I think I have always take my life for granted and never felt so vulnerable in my life.

I have never know what cyst is. I have heard numerous times but have never bother to find out more. So when I ask the urologist what Cyst is, he felt a need to explain a term that is more commonly understood.... he said it's something like a tumour.

My world crashed.

But he explained to me that this is a common problem and may be benign in nature. As usual, I never really know what benign is. It essentially means it's not a serious problem. The opposite meaning of that could be "cancerous".

Immediately, he booked me for a CT Scan which I went on Tuesday night. The CT scan is a very clear and detail x-ray that could see the Cyst clearly, or that is what I understood.

The thing about such night visit like this is... it's quiet, the air-con is at full-blast serving very few people. You feel cold physically and emotionally. You felt very alone.

The nurse called me in and told me there is a need to inject me with Saline.

I thought Saline is what you use to wash your contact lenses. And I don't mean just a syringe of saline. It's a BAG of Saline. Apparently, it's to make my blood alot lighter in colour and thus able to see alot more clearly with the scan.

So they insert a connector of sort into my main vein of my hand. This is to be connected to the bag of Saline when I enter into the X-ray room.

And am I shocked when I enter the x-ray room.

I have done an x-ray last Friday at the A&E and I was expecting something similar. But what I saw was this.




It doesn't help when the room is very very big, very white and very bright. It makes the place very intimidating and "cold". Of course, I do not expect plants (which probably will die of radiation) or warm lights or sofa couches.

I rest on the bed, they inject me with Saline. And the bed went into the "hole" numerous times for scanning. The whole process takes about 10-15 mins real time but eternity in unreal time.

I will only know the results next wednesday when I go for another test call "cystoscopy".




Ouch.... I already felt the pain.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

there's something about ..... sgh

Have been so bloody busy lately. On top of that, 6 hours of soccer every day just take away all other time for other things.

I haven't read a book with my son since World Cup started. I almost felt a sense of guilt... but I kept telling myself that World Cup is once every 4 years and my son will understand.

On top of that, I haven't been in the pink of health lately.

Was having a dry cough for a long time. It started with "wet" cough which my family doctor said it was due to my Sore Throat. Sore Throat cause phelm, phelm cause cough. After 3 rounds of Anti-biotics costing me about $80, my "wet" cough didn't go away.

So I took TCM. A bottle that cost $6 and after the first intake, my "wet" cough goes away. And now, I have the occasional dry cough which I'm too busy to take care of it.

Just when I thought I'm on my way to good health... I met with a little "industrial" accident on Tuesday.

I was helping my client to change her rusty shower head. Thought was a easy job. But unfortunately, a rusty metal splint went into my thumb.

As it was already 9pm, I decided to see a family doctor that closes at 10pm. After waiting for about 30mins, the doctor told me that they do not have ATT (that injection you have when you are cut by rusty metal stuffs) and refer me to SGH. Actually I do not need to have that ATT as I have already taken one in November last year and I was told it's good for 5 years. But the doctor advise that it's still better to go to SGH as they have a new injection called the ATG which is much better than ATT.

And So I went but not without trying at Tan Tock Seng first as it's much nearer to home. But I realised that Tan Tock Seng is also much nearer to almost everyone staying in Ang Mo Kio, Toa Payoh, Yishun, Sembawang, Woodlands, Sengkang, Puggol. After queuing for 10 mins waiting for my turn to get my temperature taken, I saw a notice that says that the expected waiting time is 2hours. I decided that SGH might be faster.

SGH is alot faster. After waiting for an hour, it was my turn to be attended by the doctor. He uses a needle and a forceps to try to take the splint out. It was the same old approach which my mum tried to do but decided to leave it to the doctor as she felt that maybe the doctor will be able to do it in a more painless and clinically advanced way. She was wrong.

There is no other way except the more painful and traditional way.

After the splint is taken out, I ask for the ATG injection. I thought it's better to ask in case the doctor gave me ATT which I already had and will make my trip to the A&E meaningless since my mum could also use the same method to remove the splint.

To my unpleasant surprise, the doctor told me they do not have ATG and they still uses ATT.

NABEH! I could have save $80 bucks and 2.5 hours!! And I could have watched the world cup match!!

Just when I thought things are over. I discovered blood in my urine the next day. Thinking that it will go away, I decided not to raise any alarm. But the blood in the urine gets alot more by the next day.

So yesterday I went back to SGH A&E again.

It was a worrying experience. Blood in the Urine could mean a few things according to doctor.
  • Stones in the bladder, kidney or somewhere.
  • Tumor in the bladder, kidney or somewhere.
  • Cancer.
  • Heavy excercise leading to this problem but will go away.
  • Chinese Herbs which I stopped having about a week before this happens.

When the nurse ask me what was wrong with me, I told her I have "urine in my blood".

We both realised the mistake but with a mask, I'm not too sure whether she is laughing. But I'm too worried to correct my mistake and I got no mood to laugh.

Waited awhile before the doctor called for me. She was a Phillipino Doctor. Win already. I'm sure she is a good doctor. But given all humans tend to judge someone from where they come from,and I was rather worry about my medical condition, I was hoping to get perhaps an American or a British Doctor instead.

It doesn't help that she doesn't speak with any English Accent or Local Accent. She speak like most Phillipino maid who graduated from Phillipine University.

But such unfounded biaseness aside, she lived up to my expectations.

I have my blood tested for Kidney and did an X-ray on my bladder and kidney. At this point, they couldn't find anything which makes me even more worried.

Without sounding too positive and negative, the Phillipino Doctor referred me to a Urologist on Monday. The worrying thing is that the Doctor told me she took alot of effort to squeeze an appointment for me. Perhaps suggesting the seriousness of my condition?

I'm thinking too much.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

there's something about ..... occasion

Just realised this must be the longest break between posting since I started this blog.

Bo bian... has been too busy with work. Now it's almost practically 7 days a week!! But might as well, World Cup is coming.... so better stock up for the lull period.

Every year for the last few years, I will mark my calender for some major events coming up for the year. Not your usual birthdays or anniversaries as those usually do not require much effort to remember. But like big parties, big gatherings, buddy's wedding, new baby....things like that. I like big occasions.

I remember attending Swing Singapore and Countdown parties with "wolf" during our mid-20s. Or organising those Christmas parties on Hotel Suites.

So now... I'm marking out 2 approximate dates.

One is Coolcat's Housewarming probably soon. I like gate-crashing.... not that I'm not invited. But I like to gate-crash buddies house before they settled in.

Years ago, I slept on Jeff's Sofa immediately when the Sofa arrived. I dunno why I was so tired. The Sofa came, and I slept like 10 mins.

And you bet I'm patiently waiting for Coolcat's sofa to arrive.

The next thing I'm looking forward to is Ella's new little sibling coming soon in September.

To all my buddies out there... do me a favour in no particular order:
  • Please get a girlfriend/boyfriend and marry them.
  • Procreate... the more the merrier.
  • Buy more houses and keep moving.
  • Or if the above option is not possible, keep changing sofas.

PLEASEEEEEEE..... I NEED AN EXCITING LIFE!!!!!!!