Day 447: A Trip To Dis-Knee-Land

Haha! Wow. “Dis-knee-land”. Even I didn’t know I had this much lameness within me.

(Slow claps self till the end of time)

Anyway! The pain in my right knee has recently gotten worse. The initial diagnosis for the knee pain was osteonecrosis (bone death), until my genius haematologist had a thought bubble that looked a little like this:

 

 

Haha excuse my kindergarten artwork! But yes, he had an inkling that the pain might be caused by the same mycobacterium infection that resulted in the nodules on my skin and in my lung. So we waited it out for a few months to see if the anti-infective treatment that I was already taking for mycobacterium haemophilum would help relieve the knee pain. However since there hasn’t been any improvement, we decided to get a knee biopsy done to get a clearer picture of what was going on in there.

 

Toshiba’s “Doughnut Makeover” Machine (Okay, it’s only a CT scanner)

 

This was a CT-guided knee biopsy so that the sample was taken from the right spot. No general anaesthesia this time but I did have to get admitted for the procedure because, “reasons”. Hospital staff told me admission (one night pre-op) was necessary because I had to fast before the procedure. But I ended up only fasting lunch on the day. So I say “reasons” because I still don’t get them like I STILL don’t get bitcoin. But like they say, where there is rain there is a rainbow! Because I got to UberEats/Deliveroo all the good food that I don’t usually have access to from where I live in Singapore. #priorities

The procedure went pretty smoothly. If it weren’t for the waiting time, my mum wouldn’t have had to wait four hours for me to return to my room. Thankfully I brought my phone with me this time, and while waiting I bookmarked in my head what to order and where to order my UberEats meal from. Don’t judge! I was hungry!

I won’t be hiking Mount Everest anytime soon but at least the biopsy results will give us some clarity on what to do next. So now we wait (for results), and sit down while doing that because my knee is slightly traumatised from that procedure.

 

As you can see, I now have a humpback whale for a knee

 

If you haven’t already, meet me at the beginning: https://beebstory.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/first-blog-post/

 

Day 435: Stranger Zit Danger

So, I got this zit on the inner corner of my left eyebrow. Usually, I’d be annoyed and frustrated. And really, she be attacking the enemy with her top secret, anti-blemish weapon. Okay fine, it’s by Clinique and it’s pretty amazing. #notanadvert

But ever since the transplant and the Graft-versus-host disease attack, my hormones have been out of whack, and my skin hasn’t been able to regulate temperature like it should. So I celebrated having a zit on my face, because it meant that my body was starting to function normally. I skipped the top secret weapon, and wore my zit proudly. #nomakeupholler

Soon enough, I starting feeling really warm.. developed a fever.. fatigue.. my head started hurting, as if an alien was constantly tearing my brain apart.. and darn it, I got the shingles. Shingles on my face. Shingles. On my face. Shingles. My face. Shingles.

Okay, just one more. Shingles.

I emailed my doctor, and he told me to get to a hospital right away. But because we were still in Malaysia (spoiler alert for below!), we panicked. Mum, dad (behind the wheels), and I were unfamiliar with the haematology centres and doctors there. I constantly scare doctors that are new to my case with my complicated medical history. So, in an emergency situation like this, I imagine both the new doctor and I would be pooping our pants. Hence it seemed wise at the time to fly to Singapore to receive treatment there. Imagine this: (1) me, in excruciating pain, (2) mum, anxiously trying to calm me down, and (3) dad, frantically driving us to the airport. As the pain became more and more unbearable, we kept tossing between the options of driving to the airport to get to Singapore, getting to the nearest hospital, and driving all the way to Singapore. Eventually, the friggin alien ripping my face apart forced us to the nearest hospital.

Thank God for my superdoctor from Singapore, who contacted a fellow haematologist in Malaysia to see me straight away. So really, my awesome doctor saved me from pooping my pants. No one wants to see me do that.

Yeh, me in my butt-revealing gown again

And so, here I am, dosed with antivirals and pain relief. I can barely eat because face-hating alien keeps interrupting my appetite. And I think its sole purpose in life is to make me vomit. But we caught the virus early, and my left eye is still only partially blind I’m pretty sure my ear is functioning, because I can hear the heart rate monitor beeping away, even in my sleep. Honestly would have preferred the shingles to appear elsewhere, but I think I’m going to be okay.

The moral of the story is, don’t skip your medications, if you can help it. Especially when you’re traveling abroad and the stress of living with your disabilities have gotten to you. Which reminds me to tell you of the trip our family had (before the shingles shenanigans) in Melbourne! I had the best time catching up with good friends, hugging the ones Ive missed so much, eating real brunch food, drinking quality soy mochas, breathing in the familiar Melbourne air, and sleeping in my favourite home. More importantly, our family got to get away for awhile to celebrate dad’s birthday.

 

Happy Birthday to my hero!

 

With my favorite source of entertainment, my darling nephew.

 

I struggled to see, to walk, and to keep my eyes open to fully enjoy the trip. But for my first time being somewhere other than Singapore and Malaysia ever since this journey began, I think I did pretty okay. My hope is, that the next time I step foot in my first home away from home again, I would be able to see it in its full beauty, and be hopping and dancing from brunch spot to brunch spot. Because really, the brunch there is glorious!

 

If you haven’t already, meet me at the beginning: https://beebstory.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/first-blog-post/