Be mindful of fish bones.
Take only the water you’ll need.
Spandex is your friend.
If you need help, ask for it.
Go to Bali.
A 35-kilometer hike in the Vietnam heat can be harder than a 100-kilometer hike in the Hong Kong cold.
Take good care of your mother. She’s important.
Since I last wrote in August, I’ve had a few adventures. Shed some tears. Laughed with my whole belly. Made friends. Conquered challenges. Here are just a few shots of recent adventures. More soon, possibly…
Kids on the beach in Amed, Bali
I spent the good part of a week scootering around Bali, Indonesia in August. I spent three days in the SamaSama guesthouse in Amed, on the northeast side of the island. Then three days in Ubud. Think rice terraces, monkey forest, mountain biking. It was excellent. According to Indonesia immigration, I spent eight days, but it was literally less than seven. That cost me US$25, which was more than I paid for two nights in Sanya’s House in Ubud. Can’t complain.
The kids in the photo above were hawking their wares (necklaces, kites, good-luck boxes) and playing with the ball in the photo when I got home from an outing one day. I asked if they’d like to play Frisbee then fetched mine. We had a blast. Then I bought them Cokes and Fantas and suddenly there were twice as many kids, and they were all so thirsty. And, they figured, if I had enough money to buy them drinks, I surely had enough money to buy their trinkets. Lesson learned. I bought one necklace from the tallest fella in the photo. I don’t remember any of their names, but I remember the one standing at my right introduced himself as Barack Obama. Nice. I had a blast hanging out with them as the day wound down, sitting on the black sand beach outside my hotel.
Have banana, will climb.
After Amed I got a ride to Ubud, which was about 100 times more commercialized and civilization-like. And very cool. Have I mentioned the amazing food in Bali?
My trip after Bali was to Danang, Vietnam. This was supposed to be part of a three-day 100-kilometer adventure race through villages and remote areas near the border with Laos. However, a typhoon wiped out many of the bridges and roads and damaged villages where we were supposed to go. So we ended up in and around Danang. It was hot, and I don’t do well in the heat. But the race was great training for the one-day, 100-kilometer Oxfam Trailwalker I was signed up to do Nov. 20-21. That deserves it’s own post.
Here’s Danang:
I ran across those bridges pictured way below.
Here’s me finishing day 2 of the race. I decided to sit out day 3. My aching joints got a well-deserved rest.
It was so hot out there!!!
After Vietnam, I had a quick trip home to surprise Dad for his 60th birthday party. It was great — all six siblings were there, too, plus Mom and Non! A quick trip, but a great trip. On our way back to Hong Kong, Mom and I stopped in San Francisco to catch up with Annemarie (aka my very best friend) and the always-awesome Marilyn and Deb. Of course, I don’t think any of us took pictures (again).
That brings me to today, roughly. Yes, I’ve purposefully left out mention of the fishbone incident.
Yesterday Kevin took Mom and I on a tour of Macau. (flickr set begins here) Now I’ll be able to show people around there too (hint, hint, Anthony). We ate. Boy, did we eat. That really is ideal, to plan a daytrip around food. It helps when the food is fantastic.
Kevin and Emily at the old fort
I’ve survived five days after having my tonsils yanked. After peeking in the back of my throat several times a day then going to compare notes with others online, I figured I might as well blog a bit. It’s easier than responding to all my well-wishers with, “I’m ok.” I’m not posting any photos. There are more than enough out there already. And it looks freaking disgusting, ok? You wouldn’t be able to converse with me without thinking, “zomg her throat is f-ing sickeningggg!” the entire time. And if you were thinking that, you wouldn’t really be listening to my nonvoice, would you?
Tonsillectomy Tuesday
At 10 a.m. my girl friends Carol and Andrea accompanied me to Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital. It was a huge relief to have them there. I checked in and we were shown to room 1308, the biggest hospital room I’d ever seen. About the same size as my apartment. I hadn’t eaten since the night before, so I was considerably grumpy and a bit nervous. The scariest thing for me was wondering how I’d feel when I woke up from the anesthesia. I felt confident in my doctor, so I wasn’t concerned about anything going wrong (besides, I did my part by showing up sans foodage). So, I changed into my stylin’ brown pj pants and blue-plaid frock. Then we let the waiting begin. Around 11 a nurse came in to ask me more Qs. More waiting. A few minutes later and a nurse brought me a wheelchair. Reality check, right? I climbed in, donned a cool little mushroom hat, and off we wheeled. She said that if I’m cold in the operating theater, I should ask for another blanket. Mmmok.
I waved bye-bye to the nurses at the nurses’ station. They “bye-bye”d back. Through a differnt door. Into a different elevator. I asked the nurse her name.
“May.”
“May?”
“Yes.” (she smiled with her eyes)
“Hi, May. I’m Emily.”
“Hi. Don’t worry. You will be ok.” (she rubbed my back)
I think we popped out on the 2nd floor, then took a right toward Operating Theaters 1-5. We stopped in a wide hallway next to a gurney. She came around the side to help me get up and lie down. Another nurse brought me a super warm blanket. Nurse May took off, other nurses and doctors wandered to and fro. Then a kind-seeming fellow named Dr. Kornberg stopped to chat. He’d be my anesthesiologist. He explained everything he’d be doing. Probably more than I wanted to know, but I wasn’t going to complain at that stage in our relationship. Said I’d have a breathing tube, that he’d be keeping me hydrated, that he’d make sure I had alllllll the painkillers I needed. And the IV will stay in until we’re sure I won’t need to be knocked out again. And I’d wake up in the room behind the windows at my left. Yo-k.
I stammered something about him being there the whole time and he said, “Well, somebody’s gotta fly the ship.”
“Cool.” Dr. Kornberg took off and up walked Dr. Lo, my surgeon. Also a cool dude. He went through some of the same things we’d talked about in his office then went to check on the OT. I stayed put until another nurse came over to wheel me in. Game time.
The OT looked pretty normal to me. Adequate. Equipped. There weren’t any windows high above for observation. No, this would be a less significant affair. A red X taped on the ceiling. Machines. Dr. Kornberg was at my left. Dr. Lo perched on a stool to my right, looking relaxed yet focused. Then, for whatever reason, I asked:
“Everyone feeling all right today?”
There were yes’s all around. Music to my ears. I told Dr. Lo I heard he was having a busy day. He said he had a surgery before mine and would have more after. I was glad to be second. And glad he didn’t mind telling me this. Ain’t no thang, Tonsillectomy Tuesday. Then Dr. Kornberg explained that he was going to do a little vein hunting (I don’t recall his exact words). We had some back-and-forth about finding veins. He gave my veins a 3.5 out of 10. Whatev. It’s in, innit?
“You should have a bit of a taste in the back of your throat,” he said.
“Yes, I do…” And I was out like clout.
*Time passes*
I woke up in a reclining position, blurred vision, a tad curious about where I was but figured it out fairly soon. A nurse was at my side, and I wanted to hold her hand. She asked me if my family was here, but I couldn’t answer. She gave me a tissue-box and pen so I could write “friends.” I didn’t yet feel much of anything but sleepy. A short while later, someone wheeled me back to 1308. Carol and Andrea stayed till I was about to zonk out again. Great to have them there. A huge thank-you to all my visitors and well-wishers.
I stayed in the hospital two nights. I was off IV painmeds after the surgery. I had Celebrex capsules, liquid acetaminophen, green gargle that makes my mouth numb and another round white tablet that I believe Dr. Kornberg described as being like ibuprophen. Once on the first night I asked for my medicine early, but otherwise I was fine to wait for the nurses to bring it on schedule. And they were great nurses.
The most helpful thing for me has been reading other people’s experiences day-by-day. So…lemme break it down for ya.
Day 1-2 post-op were the easiest so far. I took drugs, ate ice cream, drank water, rinsed with the green stuff, slept. Day 1 I mostly stayed in bed watching movies. I fell asleep to the MJ memorial that night. Day 2 I walked around the room some, stared out the window at the beautiful blue sky. As soon as I regained feeling in my mouth, I noticed my tongue was numb on the sides. Dr. Lo said it was likely the device used to keep my mouth open pinched a nerve and it’s nothing to worry about. He visited several times each day, said my throat looks normal. No bleeding. The white patches back there are good. Means I’m healing. I didn’t have much voice.
Prereq to heading home was eating soft foods. I ate congee then had buttered noodles with shredded chicken and tiny bits of carrot and peas with Magnus.
Day 3 Oatmeal for breakfast. The food progression satisfied Dr. Lo enough to discharge me. I was glad to stay two nights…reading about tonsillectomy as an outpatient surgery seemed like unnecessary solo torture.
I went home from the hospital with the liquid acetaminophen, Celebrex and antibiotics. The trip home was less than 2-km, and frickin tiring. Lots more sleeping, drugs, water, Mango Wonder Bars (awesome), and sleeping. I would wake up a tad before it was time for more medicine (every 8 hours) in serious pain. It hi-zurt to be al-iz-ive. Throat, tongue, ears. I didn’t speak for the entire day. Gah.
I tried to keep to the 8-hour med schedule as much as possible. I set alarms if I thought I might be sleeping at the right times.
Day 4 More pain, dude. I woke up cursing tonsils and mouths and ears and liquids and solids and swallowing and breathing and sleeping, etc. Popped my drugs, passed out. I went to the supermarket for all things soft. Yogurts, nonchunky soups, cheesey noodley mushroomy bowl (dream BIG!), vitamin water, mango juice, watermelon and a cream-filled pastry. Score. I had to take a timeout after paying to remember what I should do next. Go up the spiral escalator. Left out the door. Through the fish market. Past the waffle stand. Round the VW dealer. Go home. Righto. Arrived home. Passed out. I woke in pain again and decided this sucks a lot. Was getting really frustrated. But, ya know, gotsta get better.
At about 10:30 p.m. I decided I wanted mac n’ cheez, so I set out for Park n’ shop. Also scored some instant mashed potatoes (rawk!) and a can of hot ‘n sour soup. You can get lots of things with ‘n at Park ‘n Shop, evidently. Home again. Dripping with sweat. Tuckered. I was so excited about the potatoes, only to find it hurt like a b*y@t*h to eat the soggy lil tater flakes. Hells bells. Made the mac. Great success=eating half serving of noodles coated in fake cheez. More not talking today. I did whine a little.
Day 5 Not as much pain in the a.m. Decided to go to work (starting at 3:30 p.m.). Ate the potatoes left from Friday (yay!), napped, packed snacks and drugs for the office. Ended up staying till 10:30 or so. Didn’t feel a lot of pain, but it hurt to talk very loud. My voice is really tiny. It feels pretty strange to talk, and my throat gets a bit dry or something quite uncomfortable. A drink of water helps. And I use the green gargle shtuff every few hours. Really nice before eating. The idea that the solid-ish food I’m eating is dwelling in the holes in my throat is gross. So I use to the green stuff to keep from feeling it all dwelling around back there. Bleh.
Brushing my teeth is difficult because my mouth doesn’t want to open all the way. So I go super slow. My tongue is still cycling through stages of numbness. At the moment, the left side feels swollen and numb, like an insect bite. The right side doesn’t feel numb at all. Freaking tongue.
Day 6 Sleeping more than a couple hours at a time means my throat dries out and waking up is painful. I told the doc this during my check-up today and he confirmed this would probably happen. Sooo funny. Only I remedied it with drugs — he recommended a couple glasses of water. Right. Will try that next time.
Also did too much talking today at work, so at about 10 I had to go silent. Felt like a sharp, stinging cramp in my vocal chords every time I moved. Pleasant, no? Still not eating a lot, but drinking like it’s my job.
Oh, and my neighbors upstairs are renovating during the day this week. So that means there’s pulsing drill noises starting at 9 a.m.
Day 7 Slept again. Pain again. Woke at 9 again to drilling. I think I’ll pen a letter to my neighbors. A really nice letter. To express my thankfulness that they can sleep through the night because no one’s renovating our brand-new building at that time. What could they be doing? All that pulsing? Give me the drill. I’ll get the job done in an afternoon. Then I’ll go all Michael-Bolton-and-Samir-Nagheenanajar on your freaking drills.
