Surgery Preparation

When Xuan was admitted to KKH in April 2007 to have her abscess removed, we were caught unprepared, hence the trauma for the then 6-month old girl, Di and myself. I still remember the pain of being shooed away from the procedure room when my little one screamed at me for leaving her behind. And I'll never forget how lonely I felt when I was back in the ward, all alone, trying to hold back my tears while Xuan went under the knife (with only local anesthesia administered) and was wailing her lungs out. I swear I could hear her even though I was miles away. The only consolation at that time was probably the fact that she had a pair of really strong lungs!

IV unit on Xuan's arm which had to be taped to a splint.














Preparing to give Xuan a bath post surgery.














Its nearly 2 years from then yet memory of the above is still fresh as though it just took place yesterday. As such, I decided its best to tell En about her adenoid removal surgery scheduled on the coming Saturday than to surprise her that morning. After all, she is coming to 2½ years old and is able to comprehend the concept of events quite well. However, I reckon it'll sound a lot more "comfortable" to her when I said there are 2 "strawberries" (instead of adenoids) in her nasal passage that has to be surgically removed in order for her to breath more comfortably and to sleep better.

Well, we always tell En that she is special because an angel kissed her at birth and left her a lipstick mark (Strawberry Hemangioma) on her wrist. For that, she became a fan of strawberries and everything related to the fruit. So not surprisingly, she was glad to know there are 2 of that cute, little pink fruit in her nose which Dr. Chee (the surgeon) would like to remove. We added that the removal process will be carried out while she's asleep (under general anesthesia) and when she comes around, "Ta-da!!! The strawberries are gone!!!" En responded with a silly smile, as though imagining Dr. Chee waving his magic wand and some fairy dust came upon her while she was asleep. To give her more reasons to look forward to the surgery, we told her Dr. Chee is going to leave her a present for being such a cooperative patient.

Of course, mommy would be the one getting the present in reality. I had already bought her a new set of Hello Kitty Cellphone with matching accessories. My sisters also had gifts on standby to cheer her up post surgery. We've got Princess wardrobe stickers, Dora's bubble bottle, Thomas & Friends activity book, etc. all ready to put a smile on our little princess' face this Saturday.

And no, we have not forgotten about Xuan. Whatever gifts we prepared for En, there will be a duplicate one for Xuan too. Talk about double blessings! Remember its also double spending for twins!!! Hee... While Di, myself and one of my younger sisters will be at Novena Surgery this Saturday, Xuan will be home with Ya-Ya and Ling (my close friend and neighbour) who volunteered to babysit. Ya-Ya and Xuan will also be partaking the Holy Communion at home before the surgery starts. So it is a family event where everyone has to do their part to celebrate En's new gift of life --- to be able to breath freely, literally!!!

Would you please pray, celebrate and rejoice with us for this coming Saturday? Thank you very much!