I was admitted on 5th July for a minor surgery to remove a mole from my neck. For the past few months, it went renegade and would not stop growing, at first just bigger in size and still quite soft in texture, but as time passed, hardens and turned flaky with tiny bumps all over it. When it was removed, I think it was about 1cmx1cm.
Before being admitted, I went to Pan Medic to get a referral letter, and then off to see Dr Khoo the general surgeon in Pantai Hospital for a consultation. He’s this really nice middle age guy, perhaps around 40-ish, and quite detailed in explaining the procedure. He mentioned that my mole does look ugly, but not as ugly as a malign tumor, so high chances it is not skin cancer ,and I am from a very low risk group, so basically there’s nothing to be worried about. But the mole would have to be removed, because it will continue to grow in size. He would preferred for me to go under local anesthesia for the surgery, because it was a quick one, but I told him I had no guts and would prefer general anesthesia instead.
So on Monday morning, I woke up around 2am to pump, and then had some crackers and milo around 3am because I was darn hungry, and no food and drinks after that because I need to fast. Well, nearly 4am, I was too thirsty so I drank a few sips of water. 
In actual, I was whining to hubby the whole morning about being extremely thirsty and not being able to drink. Oh ya, did I mention that he was being extremely sweet the day before my operation? I told him I wanted to eat durian because after being operated, I might need to stay away from it, and by then maybe there will be no more durian because the season is nearly over. So he went out on Sunday and bought one big one for the 2 of us. 
thanks dear!
Anyways, back to the real topic – I have tendency to ramble off mid conversation most of the times – After waking up at 7am to pump, around 830am I reached the hospital with hubby, got admitted to their daycare centre, and after being weighed and asked the routine questions, it was time to changed and I was wheeled into the operating theatre. Truth to be told, I felt the jitters. The anesthesiologist was Dr Lim, and as what you always seen in the movies, the nurse held the face mask to my face and asked me to breathe in and breathe out. The gas smells funny, and I remember them asking me why I have rashes all over my neck on that day. I told them I get red when I am nervous. I remember breathing in and out for quite awhile, and the doctor teasing the nurse that she sounded like a broken recorder because she kept repeating the phrase to me, and finally, I felt my lower body being numb, and my hand even dropped from the gurney, but my eyes was still wide open. And then I started to feel groggy and I fought the urge to close my eyes and my whole body was utterly numb by then. It is quite scary, being so conscious of the fact that I am paralyzed and vulnerable. After what seemed like ages, I closed my eyes and don’t remember a thing. Last thing I heard was someone remarked again “hey her neck and shoulder is very red”. And another person replying “she told us she gets red when she’s really nervous”.
And all the while, the only thing that kept me from being nervous was the thought that if Ian can undergo such painful circumcision and recovered without painkillers, why couldn’t I suck it up and go through mine. I remember vividly the time when he too passed out from the general anesthesia before being operated.
After what seemed like forever, someone woke me up, and asked me if I was alright. I felt the bandage on my neck, and the stings from the stitches. When they determine that I was fine, they wheeled me to the daycare and hubby greeted me with a smile. He told me I wasn’t gone for long, for about 30mins or so. It was really a quick one. The doctor even took the initiative by asking the nurses to show me the mole he cut out before sending it to the laboratory. I realized he took out additional skin of mine when I looked at the mole.
By lunch time, I had fish porridge and was feeling better, although the wound still stings. In the afternoon, around 3pm, the doctor came to check on me, and explained a little more. He said the mole is high probability a benign one because he took a look at the base, and it wasn’t as ugly as a malign tumor. Lab report will be out on Friday, and my stitches can’t be seen from the surface because it’s at the inside of my epidermis layer (or something like that I can’t totally remember). According to him, I won’t have scar, as the wound will only leave one line horizontally on my neck, and people will perceive it as a wrinkle instead. The stitches will melt away in a week or 2, and until then if I want, I can refrain from eating seafood or egg, but if I am not the type who believes in pantang, basically I can eat anything.
He showed me the wound, slapped on a water resistant plaster and told me I can shower as usual. Was prescribed anti inflammatory pill, and I took one on Monday itself, hence the need to throw away all my expressed milk for that day. 
and since my milk is already contaminated, I bugged hubby to get me a cup of mocha frap from starbucks as a reward for my operation and he happily obliged, but not before teasing me endlessly. I bumped into Beejay in Jusco and he asked me what happened, and I told him I went in the morning for the mole removal procedure. And he remarked “nevermind la, got this as reward”. Haha! Seems we both are thinking on the same wavelength. Later on before going home, we dropped by his place to get the box of chocolate given by his sister Lil. Did not go up to his apartment because I was very tired and the wound still stings, so I’d rather go home and rest. (Maybe next time I shall visit u k? J)
So I went about my usual routine, was on MC for the past 3 days, the wound basically still stings, and dare not lift heavy objects for fear of straining the wound. Yesterday when hubby went for badminton, Ian was being fussy and I had to carry him to pacify him. out of the blue when he was flailing his hand, he smacked me right on the wound and I went T_T. Today when I tried to take out the plaster, to my horror I found out the cotton had stuck to the scab that was forming. So I kept wetting the whole cotton pad with saline, and tried very slowly to pull it out. Needless to say, it was a painfully long process, and hurts. :(
After what seemed like ages, I finally managed to take it out, but it stings like hell for the rest of the day right until this moment when I am typing this. Now I have a 1.5inches wound horizontally on my right side of the neck, and tomorrow I will go to work as usual. Did I also mention that I had sore throat and 2 ulcers? Damn!
On the upside, I am going to the movies after work with YY for Twilight though. Ha-ha..
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