Lipo's Gross Factor

Day 11 - Just when everyone (the nurses and myself) thought we had seen the end of drainage, the damn fluid gathered around my pelvis again. OK. I shall just let the pictures speak for themselves.

WARNING!!

Extremely graphic images below. View at your own risk!!

It looks like it hurt a lot but this was done after injecting the L.A., so actually I felt nothing.


Take a closer look.

After drawing out the fluid with the syringe, the nurse would squirt it into this mental container and poke again to drain out more fluid. She would stop only when there is nothing left.

It looks almost like blood but the consistency is thin, like water. I call it "Ribena Tarik" because it is red and has foamy bubbles! I know, I am gross.

Love My Baked Oysters with Cheese

Sometimes I hear married woman, who can't cook, rave about her incompetence as though it was a proud achievement that affirm her status of a modern wife, I can't help but wonder if she know what she is missing.

I am traditional. OK, only in certain context. I like to cook for my man and watch him savour my simple delights - food. I believe a good way to a man's heart is through his stomach. I already say, I am traditional.

My latest experiment: BAKED OYSTERS WITH CHEESE!



It's damn easy, just fresh oysters top with Mozzarella and Parmesans cheese. Oh btw, I shucked those oysters on my own too!

It's such bliss watching Mr Hubby wolfed down 3 of my baked oysters at past midnight, after he came home exhausted from a long day. ;)

Long Road to Recovery

Day 4, Morning - Working from home today.

Day 4, Afternoon - Wanted to have popiah for lunch. Sent my helper to buy for me so that I can continue working over lunch time but she called and said that the stall is not selling popiah today. So I made a fast decision to have Mac instead and after whooping down the burger and fries, I was drown by floods of regrets. Wah lau, I ate something so goddamn sinful! Then I used my lunch time to change my dressing. To my horror, the two "holes" for draining the fluid had closed! I was tempted to open them but I remember Nurse Fanny had warned me against doing so. I still had so much fluid left inside me. KNN. So upset. :(

Day 4, Evening - Took off my compression garment to pee and stole a glimpse of my weird looking body shape in mirror. There were so many dents and bugles. Is this normal??? Somebody, please tell me this will not be permanent!

Day 4, Night - Did the surgery cause me to be constipated? Maybe, probably more psychologically than physiologically, I suspect. So I took some laxative and after that whenever my tummy rumbles I would make my way to the loo. After making through those 2 damn rows of zippers and the numerous hooks to take my compression garment off, the "feel" to pass motion would simply just vanished. WTF! Then I had to painstaking put on back my damn garment.

Day 5, Very early morning (4am) - Woke up and finally shit! I swear I could smell the tumescent fluid in my poo! YUCKS!!

Day 5, Afternoon - Laundry my compression garment. Took the chance to air my skin which is getting so damn itchy. Suddenly I sneezed! FUCK! I almost thought I was bursting up from inside. Hell! It's HURTS!


Day 6 - Bought Hirudoid Gel after reading that it helps with the post-lipo's swelling and bruising. I know I should be patient when it comes to seeing the result of lipo but I can't help but feel so dejected each time I look in the mirror. I am still as large as pre-op. Maybe that's why in reality show like "Extreme Makeover", they had all the mirrors removed from the participant's room.

Day 7 - Went back to my office to work today. Skipped lunch so that I can go to the clinic for my check-up. All the incisions were closed so the nurses had to use syringe to draw out the fluid. Initially, I was scared shit but because I was left with no other better option, I relented. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. Just tiny bit of pain when they injected the area with a L.A. to numb it before poking me with the large needle with a 20ml syringe. They managed to draw out more than 100ml of fluid.

Day 8 - Skipped lunch again. More drainage using syringe. Nurse Ah Boy chided me for not wearing my foam suit. She said those dents and lumpiness were a result for not using the foam suit. She stuff a sponge into my compression garment. Arrgghhh!! I look so bloody pregnant!

Day 9 - MORE drainage. Seriously, just when is this ever going to end? And MORE sponges were added into my compression garment too!

This is me, as good as a "bar-zhang"; wrapped up in my compression garment and stuffed with sponges!!

From Da Vinci to Oliver Fricker

After seeing how well Laetitia can paint, I bought her a coloring book, hoping to give her more opportunity to practice. But I made a grave mistake, I let her have the book and went to shower without setting any prior expectation with her. When she went to bed that night, I was upset to find that she had done THIS to her new coloring book!


I confiscated all her new books. The next morning, she asked for her coloring book. I took out the book, opened it up to show her the graffiti that she had done to most of the pages. I told her calmly, "Laetitia, this is not acceptable. If you scribble the pages like this, I will throw this away and I will not buy you anymore coloring books."

Instantly, Laetitia broke down. Later, she held my hands and apologized to me, "I am sorry, Mommy."

I let her know that I forgive her but I don't want to see any more of these mindless scribbles and I want her to show me that she can focus and do a decent piece of coloring before I allow her access to the rest of her activities books.

In the late afternoon, while I was working from the study room, she completed a page under the supervision of our helper and proudly show it to me. I gave her a big hug and singing praises of her work.

I reminded her that she can do a good job if she makes an effort to. She smiled, the sweetest smile I ever seen.


Verdict:
Kids needs lots of time and effort from their parents; they needed to be encouraged, corrected and guided. Leave them to grow on other own? Then bear the consequences of your choice and be prepared to face the monsters you had helped created when they are older.

There are no children born to be terrible, just products of ineffective parenting.

Just the Beginning

The night before - It was hard for me to fall asleep, after all I had been waiting for this day (my Vaser lipo procedure) like forever! I stared at the half-asleep Mr Hubby with excitement written all over my face. He thought I was rather silly. Then Leonitus coughed and I was reminded that it was a really bad timing to have the procedure done because my precious 6 mth old was unwell. A surge of mixed feelings made me uncomfortable. Eventually, I managed to subdue my apprehension and drifted rather uneasily to dreamland.


Day 1, morning - I woke up early. Showered and all ready to go. Mr Hubby took a day off so that he could drive me to the clinic and fetch me back when I am done. He asked if I was nervous. I replied I wasn't but I must confess, deep down inside me, my adrenaline was pumping. It could be nervousness or excitement. I don't know.


Day 1, noon - I found out that the clinic had made a mistake. I was supposed to have the procedure done by this older doctor who was "commercially-marketed" by the clinic as the mentor of the doc who owned this place but someone or somehow it was messed up and I was assigned to have the procedure with the younger doctor, the boss of the clinic instead. The front desk personnel then tried to psycho me to go ahead with the procedure by "selling" me this younger doc, who is supposedly to be very popular. And actually procedures done by him would cost more but they would absorb the extra charges (damn, they have to because they fucked up in the first place). She went on and on saying how lucky or fated I was to have my procedure with him. I was like "Ok. Cut the fucking crap already!"

Later, when I was all prep up waiting for the anesthesiologist to come and administrate the sedative, another crude surprise was awaiting for me. The anesthesiologist looked more like a plumber in his late 50s than a doctor! He was wearing a pair of dirty-looking beige pants which was at least 2 sizes bigger and he was using this very old belt to hold his pants together. The belt must be as old as he is, so old that the buckle was tarnished beyond hope and when he was standing very close to me, I managed to make up the brand of his belt. It was BONIA! Did he recycled his wife's discarded belt? I didn't have time to think further, the drug knocked me out!


Day 1, evening - I woke up, very light-headed. I was lying in a pool of my own bloody fluid. It was GROSS to the max! I dressed up with the nurses' help and Mr Hubby was already waiting patiently to bring me home. I love this man to bits. First, he offered to sponsor 50% of the cost of my procedure. Then he took leave to take me to the clinic and waited more than 2 hours to fetch me home. He even took over the night duty to look after Leonitus, who had been unwell. I am so blessed to marry him.


Day 1, night - I was told I might throw up so I ate something light and went straight to bed. As I am always sleeping on my sides (curling up in a fetal position), I had so much trouble sleeping on my back and facing upward. I got up many times to pee because I refused to pee in my gigantic diaper. Yes, you heard me right. I was made to wear a diaper because the tumescent fluid in my body kept oozing out from all the 7 holes of my body!


Day 2, morning - I arrived at the clinic to have my dressing changed as well as the post-op drainage which nearly killed me! Why the fuck didn't anybody warn me about this drainage horror? The two nurses were quite nice and patient with me. I cringed when they rolled and pushed and squeezed the fluid out of my already battered and bruised body. I swear it literally felt like I was hit by a truck and ran over several times. I held the blanket close to my mouth to block out my screams. I asked the nurses if there is any other methods to drain out the fluid apart from the current one that I am experiencing. One of them replied, "Yes, we can drain the fluid out using a syringe but some people might not be able to take it and would faint from it." Oh.. That's just GREAT!

They put me in a foam suit which made it look at least 10kg fatter and then squeezed me back into my compression garment. I wobbled out of the clinic like a penguin!


Day 2, afternoon - I took a two hour nap, trying to forget that I would have to go back to the clinic for the damn drainage again tomorrow. I was starting to regret doing lipo. The nurses at the clinic told me I would probably be unable to shower today because of my punctured wounds. But I did it anyway. I even washed my hair. I can endure pain but I can't endure myself to stench like some rotten meat. Maybe I didn't smell that bad but hygiene has always been my top priority.


Day 2, evening - Although still very much in pain, I tried to move about and get up more often so as to aid the drainage of fluid tomorrow. Hated the foam suit, I ditched it aside and made compression garment my only best friend for the next few weeks.


Day 2, night - Mr Hubby came home rather late from work. And he bought me a cheery sunflower and told me to get well soon. He is the sweetest! I would have hug him really tightly if I wasn't sore beyond words to describe.




Day 3, morning - I dragged myself back to the clinic for another drainage session. I was admiring the view from the clinic; it's so picturesque with MBS at the far end. The clinic is really hip with a clean and modern feel, very much opposite from the OT and the cluttered resting area; I must snap pictures when I have the chance. Anyway, maybe my threshold of pain had increased overnight or maybe Nurse Fanny, whom I had began to be more chummy with, put me at ease by chatting with me. It was so much more tolerable today. Mr Hubby came with Leonitus to pick me up and we had lunch before he drove us home. I am so fortunate to have this family.


Day 3, afternoon - I came home and the dressing was already soaked with blood-stained fluid. I took off the compression garment for a quick laundry and wore the stupid foam suit instead. Then the dressing leaked again. I was so fed-up to have spent a long time in the bathtub squeezed myself all over, trying to drain as much fluid out as possible. At the end, the bath tub looked like a scene straight out from CSI. That afternoon alone, I changed my dressing 3 times! The maternity pads really help with the absorption. I should have bought them earlier then I might not need to change my dressings so many times.




Day 3, evening - The thing I hate most from the procedure, apart from the pain, the oozing fluid and the hassle of wearing and taking off the compression garment each time I pee, is the compromise of mobility. I hate the feeling of not being able to carry my children, so I went ahead and carry Leonitus, who is lighter among the two, for few seconds and fuck! it hurts like hell.


Day 3, night - Sleep was uncomfortable because the brusing and swelling had began to kick in. I also started to have water retention from head to toes. My face was kind of bloated to the extent that my double eyelids felt really weird. Now, I am seeming much BIGGER than I once were before lipo. It quite depressing to be at the current stage of recovery.


Working from home tomorrow, I am so not looking forward to the amount of emails that I might be getting after being away from work these few days.

Stay tuned for more of my lipo journey....

Almost as good as Da Vinci

Last week, Mr Hubby brought Laetitia to the mall and they came home with a new set of water colors. Laetitia was all excited and kept talking about painting and even went to sleep with those water colors placed right beside her.

I was apprehensive, because the last round when I tried to let her do some finger-painting, I almost had to repaint my walls. So I kept putting her plan to paint with her new set of colors off.

Every weekend, I would get to sleep in, while the kids, who wake up the same timing everyday, would to care for by my helper.

When I woke up, my helper showed me this nicely colored piece of drawing. I was very surprised when my helper told me the coloring with done by Laetitia. And it impressed me even more when she said that Laetitia had done it by herself, without help from anyone.

WOW!! It was almost like seeing Da Vinci's Mona Lisa right in front of my eyes! I couldn't believe it!



Sometimes, it takes a little bit more faith with our little ones in order to bring out their true talents. A lesson learnt!

6th sense or a wicked sense of humor?

There was a time when I was slight worried because it seemed like all the kids around Laetitia's age were all starting to talk at 12-15mths, all except Laetitia.

When Laetitia turned 2, it was almost like magic, she started picking up lots of words and before I know it, she was rattling non-stop like a machine gun and sometimes she can go on and on and on for hours talking like there's no tomorrow!

I enjoy having a conversation with her because she always says the darnedest things and she makes me laugh off all the stress which I had accumulated trying to balance work and life. But sometimes, I wonder if she really know what she is talking about.

One evening, I was exasperated trying to comb her hair before bring her out for a walk for she was jumping up and down like a monkey. So I said, "Laetitia, comb your hair! You are not going out like that. Hair so messy, look like a ghost!"

Instantly, she froze and showed me a ghastly face, which look like this :s

She repeated my last word, "GHOST!"

I nodded, "Yes. Ghost. Have you seen one before?"

"YES." She replied with so much certainty, I almost jumped out of my skin.

"Where?" I prayed that she was not going to tell me something like in my room or beside me.

"In Ah Gong's house." came her answer.

I was relieved, at least our home is safe but just to make sure, I asked, "Just at Ah Gong's house. Not there right?"

She said cheekily, "Ya, Ah Gong's house."

Seriously, I don't know what to believe. Please tell me, she was just pulling my leg and my daughter is not really see dead people.