~ Dad's Operation ~

The past few days have been extremely tiring.. the kids are down with fever on Friday and Dad's condition did not really improve... He has persistent pain and had to be on a lot of painkillers and do physiotherapy to relief some of the pain. He has to be assisted when he wants to go to the toilet. Many times, he cannot sit up and we have to help feed him with his food. Really heartache to see him fallen ill.... :(

All of us tries to do our bit to cheer him up. Big brother visits him almost every night and buys him newspaper. I chit chat with Dad, feeds him and on hot days, helps him to wipe his body... Owen will buy nice food, access his condition and he also brought his portable DVD player so that Dad can watch movies and won't feels so bored. Denver drew a picture for 公公 and Dad was very happy when he sees it.

It has been a week since Dad was admitted. He has undergone MRI scan, CT scan, blood and urine tests... Doctor says my dad's bones have detoriate and there are significant changes... white blood cells count was high indicating there is an inflammation somewhere which the scans and tests did not show what was causing it. He has UTI and a compression fracture too.

We were being adviced today that it is recommended that Dad go through a surgery to remove one of the bone (L4-5) at his back which was pressing on the nerve controlling the right calf/foot. While we were still hesitating on a go or no go... (because the surgery will not be relieving his back spine pain). Dr Tan says he has a free slot tonight and it's the best time since Dad's white blood cells count and UTI has gone down. If we decided not to go ahead now, the next available time for the surgery will only be in June and the bone pressing on his nerve may hinder his leg's movement especially when he is doing physiotherapy. Dad is also feeling numbness....

Luckily Owen is around.. and weighing the situation and explaining to Dad, we decided to go ahead.....

It's considered a medium-major operation with a small percentage that will cause a stroke or paralyse. After the operation, Dad will have to stay in bed for at least 2 weeks... I went to visit Dad at 4pm and he was already getting ready for the operation... at 430pm, he was being pushed to the operation theater.

I went back home to wait for news.... 930pm.. no updates yet. I called the ward and they told me he was just back. The operation seems to be successful. Heard that Dad is complaining about giddiness.. it should be related to his GA... Will be meeting Owen tomorrow and visit Dad again.