Hubby’s progress

Recording hubby's progress since the brain tumour surgery on 1 March.  He was doing great initially.  The staples on the cut were removed on 11 March - 52 staples in all!  The doc said, eh why not going physio??  Which scared us into quickly booking an appointment.  Hubby had actually been thinking there was no need.

So... 18th started physiotherapy sessions.  We signed up for the package of 10 sessions then when the therapist noticed 18th was hubby's birthday, he gave a free session haha.

Ok do 15mins

Hubby had one complaint though.  He was taking 2 types of medication (Keppra and Lacoset) which made him drowsy all the time.  He decided to cut the Keppra starting on 19th.  

Not sure if related to medication but seizures returned:

20 morning 

21 night.  Increased Lacoset dosafe from 4 to 6 a day

27 morning - these were so bad we called an ambulance

27 night

Hubby increased Lacoset from 6 to 8 a day.  The good thing is, seizures seem to be controlled.  The bad, hubby is having headaches, drowsiness and loss of muscle strength.

Things are not that smooth at the moment.  

New routines

For now, our maid Jane is staying with hubby in our house.  I'm with the kids at my parents' house. New routine:

0550:  JE's alarm rings (I was so surprised she could wake up by herself!  Before this I had to wake her up and it usually takes A LOT of calling before she does)

0615:  My alarm

0635:  I wake SE and then go about preparing her breakfast and lunch for school

0700:  JE starts walking to school

0715:  SE's transporter arrives

 

I'm working from home at the moment which makes things easier.  I have time to plan, shop and make SE's lunch.  She hadn't been finishing her food so Jane had been progressively reducing the quantity.  SE said she only had 30mins for lunch in senior school which was not enough time.  Also... she was fed up of the rice+dishes she was getting. Consulted her on what she likes and then tried out new items - chicken-omelette wrap, tuna mayo in pitta bread, chicken pasta salad, soup with rice inside.  So far pretty successful, as in my 'customer' finishes her lunch!

Then on Fridays we go home for dinner since Jane is there to cook.  We try to avoid the fasting month peak traffic.  I would announce a planned departure time, expecting the girls to be ready.  Instead, I'd arrive to see this.... 

ZZzzzzzz

Anyway, luckily my work is rather easy at the moment.  Ommm.

Hubby's Birthday

Another person with a birthday in March... hubby.  It's March for me and hubby, April - JE, May - SE.  His family doesn't bother about birthdays so he's chill about whether there is a celebration or not.  This year, he got Korean food.  The cake was more for our benefit than his.

No need to celebrate also can lah

'

Happy birthday to me!

Check out the HALF head of hair haha.  He was trying hard to maintain normalcy the previous surgery - wearing a cap to cover the head, insisting he was fine when the neighbour saw him struggling to exit the car.  This round, he is much more relaxed.  

 

Oh #2

Referring to when JE got her first period... SE has started hers as well.  She is 12 and three quarters, which is exactly 2 years later compared to JE.  I'm very thankful (in fact had been praying for the delay!) for these extra 2 years - sorely needed to make up for the growth lost during her eating disorder days.  While her doctor said the onset of menstruation has no impact on height, I'm still convinced it does and googling also says girls only grow 1-2 inches after that.

Luckily SE had a height spurt once her weight stabilised.  At least she isn't a shorty-pants.

Hmm ok not bad

Incidentally JE did grow a few cm and is now slightly taller than me.  She was gloating about that, not knowing that that actually makes me very happy hahaha.

JE's Tooth

As JE's front permanent tooth grew in around Primary 1, a brown patch appeared along with it.  I well remember watching the patch appearing together with the tooth.  Nobody paid much heed to it.  Then during her last two dental checkups, the two different dentists mentioned the patch, called a lesion, can be covered up if desired.  Which sparked her wanting to get it 'fixed'.

The patch, before

The treatment was called ICON, which basically involved using acid to remove the coloured portion layer by layer.  The dentist warned there will be a slight depression on the tooth after the treatment as JE's lesion was considered a deep one.  After almost 2 hours, it was done.  

I didn't like the result... the depression was so deep that the dentine was visible and overall the tooth looked abnormal.  JE said it was ok.

After.  Not sure if better or worse!

The next appointment was in a week.  Dentist said a filling could be done on the tooth if we wanted.  JE was not to take coloured foods - coffee, tea, curries, even soy sauce.   We went back a week later and requested a filling.  It was done quickly, and voila, nice!

Yess!

ICON RM500 and filling RM100 (dentist said discounted from RM160).  Money well spent. :)

My Birthday 2025

Hubby was still in the hospital on my birthday this year.  There had been a chance of being discharged, but the doctor decided to keep him longer.  Oh well.  I decided to get myself a nice breakfast - nasi lemak and good coffee. But by the time I was 'released' (from doing things for hubby) for dinner, all there was left at the shop downstairs was cold rice, leftover-looking veg and ONE piece of chicken.  Pretty depressing.  Messaged JE that I was feeing cranky after that dinner and she replied "weekend eat big dinner, nyamnyam" - lifted my mood!

SE messaged she had a present waiting for me at home.  After hubby was settled and basic things done, I headed eagerly to her crotchet box as directed.  Aww a chicken that I'd wanted and didn't see her making.  Plus the tomato I HAD seen her making which I was now allowed to take haha.

Meet Henny and Tomato

Feeding Henny a nut

Well that weekend, I'd initially planned to go out with the girls for a good meal but hubby obviously expected food to be bought back.  Told myself at least he wanted to celebrate with me!  I thought and thought.... no point buying back nice food from a nice place.  I didn't feel like having fast food.  Hawker food would be too simple.  In the end I picked simple stir-fried noodles (added on pork ribs to make the meal more worthy of a celebration).  What's important was that hubby had a better surgery outcome than expected.  I can have something nice once he got better.  

Out

As it turned out, my previous blog posts came in very useful as a reference for what happened and when.  Otherwise we would have no clear recollection.  I shall do the same this time and pray it would never be needed.

Day 1

0830 Hubby was taken for the surgery at 9am which was expected to take 2 hours.  

1300 Wheeled to the the HDU.  

1530 Hubby woke up properly.  And yayy his arm was functioning!  It could be moved and the hand could grip.  A far cry from the previous time when the whole arm was unresponsive.  

1600 Had a series of seizures.  Doc said that was expected and prescribed extra anti-seizure meds.  Hubby slept a lot but was able to have porridge for dinner.  

I went back to my parents' place for the night.

Days 2-3

Physiotherapists came over to the room.  Hmm there were certain limb movements he couldn't do.  Which translated to him not being able to walk properly.   While he could move the arm, coordination was bad.  Which rendered the arm completely unusable.  

Days 4-5

Went for physio at the hospital gym.

Walk, legs, walk

Hubby got disheartened a few times.  But I told him, things are definitely not worse.  Compared to starting at Step1 previously, he is now quite a few steps ahead.  He was able to recover previously and he could do that now too.

Day 5 evening
Discharged.  Other family members happened to be unavailable so it was up to me to get him out.  The  discharge process took a while.  Dinner arrived at 530pm (earlier in the Ramadan month) so we ate it.  Hubby wanted to go to the toilet before leaving - I had a scare when he didn't sit properly on the toilet chair and fell to the floor.  Luckily he seemed fine.  But I was very worried how he would get back home without another incident.

8pm++ Made it home and to his bed. Quite a few things more to do, and tired out, but yay for us!