Day 2 in the hospital...


25 March 2015 (Wed)

How do anyone sleep in a shared ward??

Here I am at KK Hospital, warded in what they called a B2 ward, together with 5 other luckless ladies. Hubby had tried to admit me to B2+ ward but beds were fully packed.

B2 ward according to the brochure comes with:
- 6 bedder
- Common bathroom
- Public telephone
- Common TV at waiting lounge

B2+ ward comes with:
- Air condition
- 5 bedder
- Shared bathroom
- Public telephone
- Common TV at waiting lounge

The only plus point in the B2+ ward in my opinion was the aircon. But the room I was in was very near the nurse station. And the air condition in the corridor for the nurse station gets filtered in. So the ventilation and temperature was rather comfortable. The common toilet was right outside my room too. So it wasn't that much of a difference from a B2+ ward.

Until night fell.


Night Time Non-Adventure

I assume an officially air conditioned ward would have a door. Because this ward doesn't come with one, and the walls beside the corridor was semi open at the top. This meant the light from the corridor and nearby nurse station comes in strong. This and the CHATTER at the nurse station.

First night was hell.

The pain had settled in a bit after the painkillers and nausea injection and I was looking forward to a good night's rest.

10:30pm. A party of 10 must be taking place at the nurse station. They sounded happy. There was laughter, the chattering was excitable. I'm pretty sure there must have been pizza too. It was impossible to sleep. IMPOSSIBLE. I tried.

11:30pm. I gave up. Wincing at the throbbing pain in my abdomen as I got up, I pushed my drip stand slowly out of the room to the nurse station. To my absolute surprise, there were only 2 nurses there. Neither paid me any attention while they continued to gossip boisterously about this patient they were dealing with. Finally, one of them looked up at me when I stood in front of the station and said "Yes?"

I swear I put on my most apologetic smile and asked "Could you please keep the volume down a little please..?" I hope they don't spike my drip.

They looked surprised. And indignant. But a split second later, "OK." I'm not sure what to make of her smile but I ambled back to bed.

It took them more than 15 minutes to finally settle down. But the message tones on their mobile phones continued to chime throughout the night.

It didn't end here. I didn't know exactly how the other patients were sleeping, but the bed beside me apparently slept like a pig. Well, she sure did SNORE like one. It was so loud that I could hear her inside the loo during one of my toilet trips.

I must not be the only person who thought so, or possibly asked for help. Because later on, a kind nurse, while doing her rounds taking blood pressure, passed me ear plugs, unsolicited. She's an angel from heaven!! The 3M ear plugs worked like a charm.

In between the nurses coming in and out, switching on and off the lights, I think I slept a total of 2-3 hours the entire night before the senior doctor and his entourage came in at 7am.

Dr Liu visited me a little later on too and determined my case was relatively mild but had to be observed a little longer.

So I spent the day taking little walks as recommended by the doctor, fighting my nausea, and continuing to measure my pee.

My pee was looking good. It got clearer with each cleansing. It was no longer the gross cocktail from yesterday, and by the end of the day, it was almost clear.


Pregnant with Water

A side effect of OHSS was a very low morale. My tummy is so bloated now that I look like I'm 2 months pregnant. Except there's no baby. I've also put on 4kg over the last few days thanks to the distension.

My abdomen have always been relatively flat, but now my ribs have gone completely into hiding.  I coped a feel at my self-esteem and I think it dropped a bit.

I think all women will understand. I mean, I'm all ready to inflate my belly for a baby, but certainly not for a bucket of water!

The only consolation is that both the doctor and nurses experienced with OHSS kept telling me my tummy still looks normal. I assured them this was NOT normal for me. "Well, your case is mild then" said one nurse. She had seen women suffering OHSS looking full term pregnant. Those they need to stick a pipe up the side and pump out the water.

Well ok I'll take 2 months pregnant.

Today's lunch. Sucks.