William's First Operation

William complained of pain on the eye lids near his left eye sometime in March and after having asked the usual questions if he bumped himself somewhere, or played rough with his friends, I decided to leave it be.  There was no swell or any redness.

The next day he told Kakak about the pain and we couldn't find any wrong with the eye again.

We brought him to his paed and he prescribed some eye drops for him for a week.

Then he complained no more about his eye until a week or so later, when I suddenly noticed that his left upper eyelid looked rather swollen.  So I flipped it open and was horrified to see probably two white dots (like the oil seed that we I get on my face).  It looks like a small growth.

Daddy took him to see his paed that night and unfortunately the locum was on duty.  She suggested a round of antibiotics and if it doesn't heal, to see an eye specialist.  Since this was related to the eye, we decided to take no risk as he's complained about this for some weeks now.  Daddy immediately drove him to the nearest hospital, KPJ in Damansara Kim (formerly Damansara Specialist Hospital) and thankfully, managed to see an eye specialist before the doctor closed her clinic.

She put him through some tests and informed us that he need to go for a small surgery to remove the cyst.  She diagnosed this as infective granuloma.  I know it's not grammatically correct but this is exactly what she wrote on a paper for us.

Anyway, that was on Saturday night and William was scheduled for his first operation on Tuesday morning.  On Monday, I informed his school teacher and pre-empted her that he may be on medical leave for the rest of the week.  The supervisor prayed for us.


Tuesday, April 21

His operation was scheduled at 9am.  He fasted from the night before (after dinner) and was jovial and calm all the way.

Registering himself and getting his hospital tag

Changed to his op robe and waiting for the doctors

Daddy giving 101% support

X marks the eye to be operated on

Inside the operating theatre:  Only one parent was allowed permission to accompany him into the operating theatre.  So mommy went. As you can see, my little trooper was jovial all the way.

Less than 15 minutes later, he was wheeled out.  Praise God for a smooth and successful operation.  

So yea, the above is a simple chronology of what happened.  I held his hands as he layed on the operating theatre whilst they administered general anesthesia using gas.  I spoke words of assurance to him, reminding him for the umpteenth time the One who was in control, and he is in His good hands, and within a minute I saw my little boy's eyes close.  I almost wanted to wake him up, as his eyes closed, my own eyes teared.  The nurses then told me it's time to wait outside.

So obediently I walked out alone.

Hubby was waiting outside and he wittingly engaged me into a comedy movie he downloaded earlier. We held hands while waiting for our boy.  Within 15 minutes, the nurse came out and informed us that the operation was over.  See, it's so fast even before my tears can dry!

William was awake but drowsy.  We told him to continue resting.

By half an hour later, he was easily back to his own self, bored and wanting to move around.  The experience later at the hospital was not so good with nothing else to do but to wait and wait and wait. Lunch was not provided so I bought some food from the cafeteria for us and a muffin for William.  Thereafter I left to pick and settle Vic.  Daddy waited with William for the discharge papers until mid afternoon, and still received no discharge papers.

Cut the long story short, we kinda discharge ourselves with the prescription, let them hold our deposit and we left.  It's horrible to let a patient who has been fasting the night before, what more a child, wait for so long.  The other hospital - Pantai Hospital - did not even take THIS long to discharge a patient!

Back home, he was himself like nothing happened in the morning.  For the next few days, he stayed home but by Friday, went back to school since he was getting bored at home.

And the music stopped...

Vic and I have had many meltdowns over her not practicing her piano pieces, and not putting her heart in her practices.  For each good theory work handed in, there's a least three more with plentiful of careless mistakes.  Such mistakes are repeated, and some questions unanswered, leaving both the teacher and I disheartened and frustrated.

A brief history on her brush with music starting off with Yamaha's children group Junior Music Course (JMC) in April 2009 when she just turned 4.  She completed her two years in this course, then moved on to the advanced JMC for the next 1.5 years without completion because I felt the progress was slow and focus was not there.  So we found teacher Joanna who taught her privately in her home under the ABRSM syllabus.  She used modern pieces from current books with jazzy and contemporary songs, coupled with theory and ear training for an hour each a week with Victoria.

Vic has learnt Italian terms and learnt a handful of minor keys as well as melody writing and the works of Grade 1 and 2.

But alas, her interest didn't bloom and she found practicing her piano a chore.  We once had such a bad session at home because she would rebel against everything I said, even to the way she clapped her hands to the rhythm.  It's so bad for our relationship, and such a pain in the behind just to remind her to practice and do her theory.

So at that time, she decided that she will learn piano but not sit for exams.  Her idea of playing the piano is for fun without practicing nor hardwork.  Sometimes I felt like she was practicing only during class time, which really frustrates her teacher too!  After many advices and talks and before some people start shooting at me for being too harsh on her, I have given her the due encouragement and reasonings.  I guess she's just not into stuff that require hardwork with no short term result.

I guess piano is not for her at this time and maybe, just maybe she will pick it up again at a later stage.  Or maybe another instrument.  So far there's no indication of interest for music.

So finally in April 2015, after exactly 6 years of torture, the music stopped.

Flashback... this was Vic enjoying a lesson in September 2009