Arthroscopy part 1

As requested, I was admitted a day before the scheduled surgery. Ban drove me there (thank you, honey!).

Before admission, they tested me for Covid-19 using rapid antigent test. Took them about an hour to inform me of the result (negative). Ban and I had early lunch and chilled in the car while waiting. This hospital didn't have a proper cafeteria and so I showed Ban where we could have chap fan. I thought it would be useful for him to know of this coffeeshop for him to get food when he visits me the following days (but that didn't happen, as stated later).

At the admission lounge, after checking and getting me to sign some forms, they gave me a zipped bag containing a face towel, small bottles of body wash and hair shampoo, a tube of toothpaste, a toothbrush, and a comb. No bath towel though.

Then came the bad news: no vistors allowed :( However, at the ward, a nurse told me that a carer could accompany me but had to do the Covid-19 test  and then stuck with me until I'm discharged. They could leave on urgent basis but would have to repeat the rest if wished to come back. I told Ban not to do this as it was quite troublesome. He would be bored if accompany me throughout. I did ask him to bring me a pair of slippers and a bath towel. These would be passed to the guards at ground floor with my room number given to them and then they passed them to me later.

I was given a single room, which was what I wanted anyway. I was a little surprised that it had a microwave oven and a mini fridge, both of which I didn't use. The Astro remote controller was hardly working and so I was stuck watching only the AXN channel @@. The maintenance guy told me that there was no spare controller.

Food was not bad: I ate almost all of the meals. Only complaint was that they were served late. Apparently the caterer was short of staff: only two of them was serving the entire hospital!

Hospital bed was a little hard for me. It was even worse when I was wearing only the surgical gown.

However, the more important thing was that the hospital staff were all friendly, helpful and patient, which I'm grateful for.

The anaesthetist gave me information on general anaesthesia ('GA') and regional anaesthesia ('RA')). Based on my health and medical history, he was at first indifferent between the two methods but later leaned towards GA because of my concern over the urine issue of RA (may have back the feeling of wanting to urinate, but couldn't because RA is still in effect) and me being nervous. However, I changed my mind later after speaking with a friend who is also an anaesthetist, mainly because RA has fewer ways things can go wrong.

They drew some blood to run the usual blood test. I was surprised to learn, after I received the results upon discharge, that my WBC went up to 4.0 (compared to 3.1 in January), which is just at the lower boundary of normal range. My total cholesterol also went up (5.9) but now I realised that I didn't fast beforehand.