The tuna sandwich looked ok. I ate the deep fried one first, which tasted ok, only I had oil dribbling down the corners of my mouth which I cleaned up easily enough with the super absorbent tissue from the café. I offered Matt some, which he politely rejected. I then tasted the fresh version and it was horrendous. Yucks! The bread was dry, the crust was tough and the tuna mayo filling tasted sourish. I had 2 bites but could not continue anymore.
We quickly asked for the bill and paid just as quickly. We even got a goodbye wave from the shoeless waitress. “Phew!” we thought. “At least we’re out of there safe!”….so we thought…..
The following chain of events then unfolded and they were detailed in chronological order for your ease of understanding.
10:30pm : Fell asleep on hotel bed while reading a book.
8am : Woke up, showered, washed my face, brushed my teeth and did a dump. Excrement was watery, but no abdominal pain whatsoever. Strange, but no pain must mean everything’s ok yeah?
9am : Went for complimentary hotel breakfast. Ate 2 teaspoons of fried rice, a cup of tea and 2 crackers. Saw a fly regurgitating on a slice of watermelon amongst the fruit platter and decided I needed to leave this country straight away.
10:30am : checked out of hotel and taxi-ed to City Square mall where Matt wanted to get a few more items.
12pm : Finally arrived in Singapore and felt total relief.
12:45pm : Went to food court in Toa Payoh as we did not get much to eat during breakfast. Ordered some fishball noodles. Consumed 2 strands of noodles and 1 fishball.
2pm : reached home, unpacked and had a snooze.
2:15pm : woke up for water. Difficulty in getting to sleep
2:30pm : woke up
3:30pm : woke up
4pm : felt feverish, took some Panadol
5pm : took temperature – 37.8 degrees C.
6:30pm : Decided not to force myself to sleep anymore. Stomach started bloating
7:30pm : Gas in stomach not dissipating, had to move around every 20 minutes to burp or fart for abdominal pressure relief.
8pm : Went with Matt to 24 hour clinic. Was given 4 kinds of medicine and charged $70. “Its probably a minor case of food poisoning” the brilliant doctor diagnosed.
9pm – 2 am : could not sleep, standing up every 20 minutes to reduce pressure in stomach. Medication not working.
2:20am : Admitted into Accidents and Emergency Department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
There you have it, a blow by blow account of events leading up to my first every HOSPITALISATION!
I must say the hospital staff and doctors did a great job in taking care of me. I was put on drip, given a cocktail of drugs, X-rayed etc etc…After the x-ray, the doctor came up to me, patted me on my hand and told me “ Don’t worry, but….”. That was when my blood pressure started shooting up. “The X-ray showed inactivity in your intestines and some inflation. We suspect there might be a blockage. Therefore, we have to keep you in here for observation, between 24 hours and 5 days. And if the problem doesn’t clear itself out, we may have to operate on you immediately. But don’t worry ok?”
“Ok doctor, I will stop worrying as soon as you order in that shot of elephant tranquilizer.”
And there I was, totally helpless. I did not inform Matt I was admitting myself into the hospital as I knew he would be waiting there for 4 to 5 hours while they did their tests and diagnosis. My brother came in with me instead and I do have to send my appreciation to him as he literally stood by my side (no chairs in ER) throughout the 5 hours.
I was transferred to the ward at 9am. The bloating has not yet subsided by then and I was still in great discomfort. But as least I knew I was being taken care of. As much as I tried to get some sleep, I was constantly probed and prodded by the nurses for my temperature, blood pressure, drip consumption etc. At one point about 12pm on Sunday, my temperature spiked up to 41degrees C. Funnily enough, about 4 hours after that, I began to sweat profusely, wetting my bed in the process (with sweat lah, not pee). Right after I changed out of my wet clothes, I felt perfectly fine, a 100%. Just like that! Appetite came back (means I’m eating like a pig again) and I was chomping down hospital grub, which contrary to popular belief was actually quite decent. Its either that or the hunger messing with my brain. And you had a choice from the menu too!
They kept me in for another night and the next day, I was discharged at 12pm. Whistling my way down the elevator, the door opened up to reveal a familiar face of the person I wanted to see most after my 2 night ordeal.
And guess what was the first thing he said to me?
“Hey, where do you want to go for lunch?”
We quickly asked for the bill and paid just as quickly. We even got a goodbye wave from the shoeless waitress. “Phew!” we thought. “At least we’re out of there safe!”….so we thought…..
The following chain of events then unfolded and they were detailed in chronological order for your ease of understanding.
10:30pm : Fell asleep on hotel bed while reading a book.
8am : Woke up, showered, washed my face, brushed my teeth and did a dump. Excrement was watery, but no abdominal pain whatsoever. Strange, but no pain must mean everything’s ok yeah?
9am : Went for complimentary hotel breakfast. Ate 2 teaspoons of fried rice, a cup of tea and 2 crackers. Saw a fly regurgitating on a slice of watermelon amongst the fruit platter and decided I needed to leave this country straight away.
10:30am : checked out of hotel and taxi-ed to City Square mall where Matt wanted to get a few more items.
12pm : Finally arrived in Singapore and felt total relief.
12:45pm : Went to food court in Toa Payoh as we did not get much to eat during breakfast. Ordered some fishball noodles. Consumed 2 strands of noodles and 1 fishball.
2pm : reached home, unpacked and had a snooze.
2:15pm : woke up for water. Difficulty in getting to sleep
2:30pm : woke up
3:30pm : woke up
4pm : felt feverish, took some Panadol
5pm : took temperature – 37.8 degrees C.
6:30pm : Decided not to force myself to sleep anymore. Stomach started bloating
7:30pm : Gas in stomach not dissipating, had to move around every 20 minutes to burp or fart for abdominal pressure relief.
8pm : Went with Matt to 24 hour clinic. Was given 4 kinds of medicine and charged $70. “Its probably a minor case of food poisoning” the brilliant doctor diagnosed.
9pm – 2 am : could not sleep, standing up every 20 minutes to reduce pressure in stomach. Medication not working.
2:20am : Admitted into Accidents and Emergency Department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
There you have it, a blow by blow account of events leading up to my first every HOSPITALISATION!
I must say the hospital staff and doctors did a great job in taking care of me. I was put on drip, given a cocktail of drugs, X-rayed etc etc…After the x-ray, the doctor came up to me, patted me on my hand and told me “ Don’t worry, but….”. That was when my blood pressure started shooting up. “The X-ray showed inactivity in your intestines and some inflation. We suspect there might be a blockage. Therefore, we have to keep you in here for observation, between 24 hours and 5 days. And if the problem doesn’t clear itself out, we may have to operate on you immediately. But don’t worry ok?”
“Ok doctor, I will stop worrying as soon as you order in that shot of elephant tranquilizer.”
And there I was, totally helpless. I did not inform Matt I was admitting myself into the hospital as I knew he would be waiting there for 4 to 5 hours while they did their tests and diagnosis. My brother came in with me instead and I do have to send my appreciation to him as he literally stood by my side (no chairs in ER) throughout the 5 hours.
I was transferred to the ward at 9am. The bloating has not yet subsided by then and I was still in great discomfort. But as least I knew I was being taken care of. As much as I tried to get some sleep, I was constantly probed and prodded by the nurses for my temperature, blood pressure, drip consumption etc. At one point about 12pm on Sunday, my temperature spiked up to 41degrees C. Funnily enough, about 4 hours after that, I began to sweat profusely, wetting my bed in the process (with sweat lah, not pee). Right after I changed out of my wet clothes, I felt perfectly fine, a 100%. Just like that! Appetite came back (means I’m eating like a pig again) and I was chomping down hospital grub, which contrary to popular belief was actually quite decent. Its either that or the hunger messing with my brain. And you had a choice from the menu too!
They kept me in for another night and the next day, I was discharged at 12pm. Whistling my way down the elevator, the door opened up to reveal a familiar face of the person I wanted to see most after my 2 night ordeal.
And guess what was the first thing he said to me?
“Hey, where do you want to go for lunch?”
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