A Lot Had Happened [Part I: Surgery]

Been on hiatus for quite awhile, my last post was on July and it’s December now. A lot had happened for the past few months and man, is it not a tiring year? The first few months of the year would pass by pretty slow but when it hits the other half of the year, the time just flies super fast and it’s new year again.

So, what had happened? A lot.

1. Went back to Sydney for my graduation.

2. Had lumbar-slip-disc-something surgery.

3. Ramadhan, Syawal months

4. My sister’s wedding.

5. Vacation/business trip once in awhile.

Not going to talk about all of them in one post since it would take days to finish, if I’m not lazy. So I’m just going to update about my back surgery now.

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I can’t even remember the exact date I got the surgery done, but definitely after I got back from my graduation. Which was sometime at the end of June or early July and I had to decide to do the surgery the next day, right after we landed from our trip.

Well obviously I agreed. My legs been hurting so much and we just had two weeks trip in Sydney and 5 days in Kuala Lumpur. I couldn’t take the pain anymore and I just need that to go away.

I got admitted a day before the surgery, since my surgery would be at 7am sharp the next morning. But I came at 10pm during admittance day because I need to eat loads of food. YES, I NEEDED TO. You can’t predict when you are able to eat those delicious-non-hospital-ish-food anymore.

I woke up at 4am to clean myself up because my mom - she have had done more than 5 surgeries before - told me to take a long shower because you won’t be doing that for at least a week. A friend of mine recommended this too. (It’s definitely gross guys because after a week of surgery, you felt like oily-sweat all over but all you can do is brush your teeth, wash your face and just lap-lap your body. If not, the stitches would take longer time to dry.)

So after my long shower, I did my Subuh prayer and solat hajat, May Allah ease everything along the process and May Allah forgives my parents and me for our sins and whatever that makes me deserved this. Now to think of it, I should solat taubat as well because how can I be sure I can make it out alive? But Alhamdulillah I am well now.

Long story short, I survived.

However, I have to go to countless appointments, which I hope will come to an end (left with one appointment now I think wheeeeee) and my paranoia is still there because the doctor once mentioned that this lumbar spine injury that I had could come back if not taken care of seriously.

So since this is serious business, I prepared my questions of dos and don’ts after the surgery and my latest conversation with the doctor went like this.

Dr:       How are you Miss P? (He called me by my name though)

Me:      Definitely better than the last time I’ve been here.

Dr:       Oh that is great! So I think your condition blablabla…

Me:      *listening vicariously with cue nods every once in awhile*

Dr:       So do you have any questions?

Me:      *clear throats* So, what can I do and not do after this?

Dr:       You can do anything really that doesn’t involve heavy lifting, extreme sports (no netball or any sports for at least a year and he is being kind), don’t sit too much, walk around the house but not too much, you have to know your limit and take a rest.

Me:      Okaaay (I don’t actually get it)… So what is the limit weight that I can lift then?

He looked at me, almost laughing like somehow my question is probably ridiculous
but didn’t you say I need to take care of myself seriously?!

Dr:       I can’t say really because each person has different limits to them. But what is so heavy that you want to lift anyway?

Me:      Umm… You know things like… laundry basket maybe?

Dr:       …

Me:      Well not the empty one obviously hahaha

Dr:       …
Me:      … (Okay, I think he doesn’t know how much a week of a woman’s laundry could weigh).

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I don’t know if I am going to write the other parts soon or what but hey Peepnets, I’m alive and well now, Alhamdulillah. Finally back to blogging.

- Miss P -

Large Ringed Donut

Did I mention before that I have back pain and it is affecting my left leg as well? If I did then… I want you (I don’t know who I am talking to *laughs nervously*) to know that I’m going to do Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) procedure tomorrow.

Honestly, I never thought my pain would be this scary. I thought a pack of painkillers would actually kill the pain. But four weeks passed and the pain is excruciating as ever.

The last time I saw my doctor, Dr. K (not Dato’ K #malayjokes), he suspected my spine is somehow dented and it affected the nerve circulation of my left leg. That is how much I understand his explanation because believe me, he almost made me a doctor by saying all those medical terms.

In the end, he suggested to go through MRI and see if his suspicion is true. I agreed to it because this pain is starting to bother me. I am pretty much a chill person, so I don’t really care if I’m ill or in pain because I believe, it will all go away eventually, after numerous amount of sleep. However this time round, I am not so sure.

My conversation with Dr. K went like this,

Dr. K:  So, how are you feeling girl? (Flipped through my medical report)

Me:      Uhhh, been the same for the past four weeks I think.

Dr. K:  Sigh. Poor you… You’re 24 but your leg’s condition is 84.

Me:      Ha. Ha. My grandmother said the same thing!

Dr. K: Okay. Now let’s do some leg exercise.

Which I didn’t do well. Apparently.

Dr. K: How much do you know about spines?

Me: Nothing. (I decided to be honest here)

Dr. K: Ahh… of course. You are an engineer.

He smirked. Sigh. I shouldn’t have told him.
He went on explaining about the spines, the nerves, muscles and so on, for about 5 minutes.

Dr. K:  But that was just what I suspected. I suggest it’s better to do MRI to confirm this. Do you have any question?

Me:      I won’t ask you how much will it cost, you can tell that to my mother but when do I do this thing?

Dr. K:  As soon as possible. I will ask the nurse to check the availability with the scanning department.

Me:      Uuuuuh... It’s not scary right?

Dr. K:  Naaahh, it’s just like going through a large ringed donut.

I just nodded. But the thing is… I’ve never been through a donut. Has anyone ever?

Ps. By any chance anyone read this, please pray for me #patheticme #thankyou

- Miss P -

BruONZ Summer Games 2014/15

The down-under Summer Games is back! When I thought it wouldn’t.

So this year’s game was quite the “last-minute” kind of event. Usually every year each state would take turns in organizing this event. Sydney was hosting the last two years summer games and Melbourne hosted last year.

I don’t know what happened but it turned out Sydney was organizing the Futsal and Netball tournament this year, which I think should be done by other states.

Anyways, I participated in the Netball tournament as always. I played for the Sydney team. Though last year I did not join due to my yearly travel. I went Umrah last year! Alhamdulillah. I miss Mekah and Madinah now! It was super-duper awesome guys, like whaaaattt…Okay let’s carry on.

There were four teams competing in the netball tournament; Brisbane, New Zealand, Perth and Sydney. Long story short, Sydney won! Alhamdulillah! It was close though. We won over Wahine (New Zealand) and Perth Swans. We lose to Brisbaners and we tied up on first place. Due to time constraint, the winners were picked by total goal difference between each team. That’s how Sydney won the gold medal. (Couldn’t find photos of Second-Place Winner i.e. Brisbaners).

Sydney Team: SUPERNOVAS (First-Place Winner)

New Zealand Team: WAHINE (Third-Place Winner)

Image source: instagram @kacangpea

Perth Team: PERTH SWANS (Fourth Place)

Image source: instagram @fizahnorha

Third Gold Medal Baby.

Alhamdulillah for the win and to play for Sydney was awesome. The fun bit of this event is also meeting your peers; be it the alumni, your own batch, the juniors, the super juniors, people from other states and so on.

I would love to join again in many years to come insyaAllah.

- Miss P -