It was 1:45 PM when I laid down on the operating table which was comfy, padded and had a pillow. They handed me the remote control to a Samsung flatscreen TV suspended on the wall. I switched it on to Bagets on Cinema One.
Next door, I could hear the voice of a famous actor who has been going to Dr. Belo for 18 years. No wonder he is amazingly well-preserved unlike his brother.↑
I asked how long the procedure would take, so I texted the driver to go home and come back at 6 PM.
The anesthesiologist plugged the Twilight in. It’s an IV that kind of puts you to sleep.
I watched Bagets. Then my world started to get woozy. It felt like my soul was leaving my body. I was truly scared, just like I was while having my C-section (twice).
My heart pounded and I thought, this must be how it feels to die. I started praying.
They covered my eyes with a dark green towel, if I remember correctly. I could hear them talking and doing stuff to my body, but I felt no pain and the fear was gone.
After some time, they woke me up. Is it done? Yes. It went really well.
I called for my nurse and asked her to massage my feet.
I wondered if Dr. Belo was around. I wanted to thank her. No, I wanted to hug her, but she was gone.
I asked for my cellphone. I wanted to call my dad and Jeroen. I almost called my Dad, but I remembered, husband first.
I called Jeroen to say, “I’m done.” He said he was on his way home from work and asked me what I wanted to eat. I said, I have no appetite.
I saw I had a missed call from my Dad. I called him and said, “I’m OK.” I can’t remember what else was said, but he always says something nice.
Before I left I asked the nurse to take a picture of my fat. Almost 2 liters, I think.
Can you imagine I was carrying that on my arms?
I don’t know how I made it home. But somehow I got myself in the car, up the stairs. I went to bed and felt hungry.
Jeroen fed me Kim Chiu’s diet (three siomais) and I was full.
Then I had an urge to brush my teeth. I felt energized and went to the bathroom with the nurse. While brushing my teeth I saw blood dripping on the sink, on the floor. A bit freaky but we didn’t panic as we were briefed that this would happen, hence the sanitary pads taped on my wounds.
I sat on the toilet lid so that nurse could change my dressing. I started to feel faint and had that feeling my soul was leaving the body again.
I heard voices but couldn’t see. The next thing I was on Jeroen’s side of the bed. How did I get here?
I fainted. Again, we were briefed that I could faint due to the Twilight, so we weren’t scared.
I had no pain, I was in good spirits, until hunger and pain hit me at 10:30 PM.
I asked for Ponstan. For the first time I started to feel sorry for myself and cried. Jeroen told me, don’t cry, the worst is over.
I figured, I should eat something. I had a burger in my mind, but I ate banana chips instead. Banana chips saved my life.
Ponstan kicked it and I felt OK again. But I didn’t and couldn’t fall asleep and so I watched a Bethenny Frankel marathon on iTunes (my idol).
In the morning I was well enough to take a shower without passing out.
(To be continued)
Originally published at Chuvaness.com. You can comment here or there.