day 28: the operation

On 22 February we were informed that Ate Malou's schedule was on the 28th, but given our experience the previous week, I wasn't going to believe it until I actually see it written down in her chart.

The doctor has already given me the prescription for the antibiotics and the materials needed for surgery, but the ward watchers tell me that someone has to be on standby, because the requests for additional materials would be given the night before surgery, and other medicines would be required in the recovery room.  So on 27 February, I was there, double-checking the list.  I asked the doctor if everything was complete, and if the clearance is still valid.  I thought I'd suffer a heart attack if we would be informed that one test needs to be repeated this time.

The nurse explained to me how the schedule for surgery gets finalized, from the time the anesthesiologist makes his rounds, to the advise to the nurse station, to the operating room lineup.  The anesthesiologist will make his rounds in the late afternoon, and we'd get the instruction to bring the form to the blood bank.  Then they'd run through the checklist.  The nurses on shift would keep checking the materials until the patient is ready for surgery.  I should get the name of the nurse; she is helpful and pleasant.

They kept the watcher running that night.  She bought the anesthesia, then the nurses were asking about the intravenous solution and the sheet for the operating table, which weren't in my list.  Finally, at 6:00 am on 28 February, Ate Malou was brought to the operating room.

Ate Malou says she was semi-conscious throughout the operation.  The doctors were discussing, and she could hear the pounding of some metal, which she assumed was the implant they were going to use on her.  She said she could recognize the voice of her doctor, and that of the anesthesiologist, and they both sounded nice and light-hearted.  Finally, the doctor said they were finished, and she said she thanked the Lord, then thanked the doctor.  The doctor texted me when they finished, and you don't know how relieved I was.  It is a big deal, when the doctor tells you everything went well, and it is a bigger deal when the doctor takes the time to inform you.

I spoke to Ate Malou the following morning, 1 March, and already she was so talkative.  She said she needed blood transfusion, and that she had a fever.  But she remembered to greet my husband a happy birthday.  She also said she had a new doctor, and this doctor is also cute and very cheerful.  The new doctor explained the whole operation to her, and what is expected, and what the possible problems are.

Ate Malou's version is that when the doctors were trying to screw the implant to her thigh bone, her bone would disintegrate.  So they made another incision to try getting some bone from her hip, but that didn't work.  Her hip bone was very thin.  They got some bone from their bone bank and fixed the implant in place using that.  The doctor said it was successful.

That's what's important.  It was successful.  We can worry later about preventing infection, and the risk of hospital pneumonia, and why she had fever, but in the meantime we're only glad she's out of surgery and talking about going home.  I'll make sure I can personally thank the doctors.  They have no idea how grateful we are for helping Ate Malou get well again.