Last Sunday, I recall that I was sitting at home and joking with my friend, talking about skincare and wishing we could go traveling and shopping together. Just girly stuff in her ungirly room. :P
Hence, we weren't expecting her to fell ill the next day. I recall she started having abdominal pain sometime 3 in the morning. She said her stomach felt bloated and she felt nausea at the same time. Initially we thought it was normal food poisoning and I went out to get some Bacuspan painkillers for her acute stomach cramps.
Towards evening, I returned from campus, and she was now in more pain. Half bent over, tears in her eyes as she asked me where is the nearest clinic. Right then, I suspected it was appendicitis. So I drove her to GP after hours, which is right across Royal Perth Hospital. My friend was still half bent over, clutching her stomach in pain and it freaking took us 20 minutes to even register. WHY??
*Highlighting every single word just to annoy me*
Ok, I will try to be kind. Apparently, there is only one doctor on duty (that's alright). Secondly, their computer system is down. And the nurse couldn't print out a notice for early closure. So instead of tending to the patients first, she took out a paper and wrote the notice. And just incase we are here to waste her time, she decided to waste ours by choosing to HIGHLIGHT EVERY SINGLE WORD SLOWLY. If it weren't for the poster saying 'no staff abuse. zero tolerance!' with the image of a policeman pointing straight at me, I think I will scream. So after 20 minutes to register, we waited another 1 hour to see the doc.
Once inside, the doctor (which we didn't immediately identified as doctor because he was waltzing around and around. Impression points: Minus...) proceeded to inspect my friend. As he pressed down on her tummy, she screamed with every tap. It amazed me that he can keep a very calm face, even to the point of BLUR. Then he went to flip through some books before saying that there seem to be infection, MAYBE salmonella. So he prescribed antibiotic and we were dismissed. Before we even left the clinic, we could even hear him getting annoyed with the receptionist for letting more patients come in. Impression points, BIG MINUS~!
By 10:30pm however, (which is 2 hours after taking the painkiller) my friend was still writhing in pain. It was then time to deliver her to the emergency room. It was kinda scary moment for me, for I kept thinking 'Her appendix is gonna BURST~!'. So we drove her to the nearest emergency room, i.e. Royal Perth Hospital. The triage nurse was wonderful, they seem very professional and knowledgeable (compared to the blur doc from previous!!).
*Emergency room at Royal Perth Hospital*
My friend was quickly (after 15 minutes?) escorted to the examination room where they started taking her vitals, took her blood sample and administered morphine to stop the pain. By then, the clock was ticking to 12am. The nurse told us that the test will take one hour (later found out to take 3!), since there is nothing I could do then, I went back to take a rest. Later at 3am, my friend called and informed me that there is traces of infection in the blood, and they will perform ultrasound in the morning to see what is wrong.
After hearing the news, I was too tired and I fell asleep until 10 in the morning. I was pretty sure that it will be appendicitis and that could be easily solved. Like whatever. :P
However, the next day after ultrasound, the doctor delivered a frightening news. The doc said one of her ovary flipped over (like how? why? all don't know). During this process, blood was cut off from it, which means it is slowly dying. If too much time has passed, she might lose her ovary. I was so worried, but the doc joked that she is not dying la!! lol... So, he said we need to transfer to King Edward's Hospital via ambulance ASAP (the time then was 12pm), so I told my friend I will go back for lunch first and then we will meet at King Edward's.
Guess what? I wasn't surprised when she called me at 4pm later. I guess that is what ASAP means. Her surgery was around 6pm and I visited her around 7:30pm. The attending nurse informed me that upon closer inspection, the ovary was not flipped over (so confusing!) and that infact there was a cyst that was causing all the pain. She told me the operation was a success but my friend lost quite some blood (2 liters!!). However, the doctor told us the next day that when they tried to remove the cyst, it burst, which explains the loss of blood. Hmm.. doesn't that mean that the operation wasn't 100% successful? pfff... These ppl.... very confusing, at least they get the job done.
*View from King Eddies Hospital, Subiaco*
By the 4th day she was moved to a ward and resting off her nausea and slight pain from the surgery wound. The nurses encourages her to stand up and walk around ASAP even though she felt slightly nauseous and painful, because inexplicably this facilitates the wound recovery. By now, my heart has slowly calmed down from the fright and worry that was plaguing me. And at 10am, she was finally discharged from the hospital.
All this happened so suddenly that we weren't even mentally prepared. But I guess that is life, right? That it can so ruthless and take everything away in one swipe or it can be filled with so many surprises that it takes your breath away. My friend is younger than me, and to be suddenly diagnosed with this illness has been like a wake up call to all of us. When I asked her whether she was afraid of surgery, she said all she could think of then was 'just take the pain away!'
I realised as they were monitoring her that night after the surgery that we might not comprehend it when we are healthy just how delicate and complicated our inner systems are, that we can do everything normally. Even the simple task of menstruating or even give birth. So don't take it for granted, adopt a healthier lifestyle starting from today~!
*But first, let me indulge in Apple crumble with vanilla ice cream at Imps, East Victoria Park*
My treat for the week~! :P
Hope there will be a next time,
XOXO.
Packaging : Bright green tube packaging, simple and practical. 
