I learnt later that Charing Cross Hospital (which is the University Hospital for Imperial College of London) has the best neuro surgery facilities and specialists in London. It's good to know that I will be in very good hands.
We arrived there and I was immediately wheeled into the neuro ward. In a very brief moment the doctor came in and explained to me about my condition and what was going to happen during the surgery. What happened was, my entire disc has prolapsed and hitting on all the nerves - which is the reason why I felt the numbness from my waist down. It sent shivers down my spine when he said that if they do not remove the disc; in a matter of hours, I could have been permanently paralyzed! Suddenly I felt so scared and so alone... In what felt like an instant reaction, I just grabbed the pen from him and signed the consent form. I still remember his words a few seconds before that, "It's not an option'. He also explained to me all the risks of the operation - which are quite major - but nothing compares to not doing it.
Almost immediately after, I was wheeled in to the OT (Operation Theatre). It was about 7:00 pm that time on Wednesday night, 28 November 2012. Miraculously Hakimi turned up at the very last minute! At least I get to see a familiar face again and that brought such a relief... I was saying my prayers all the way into the OT. In the preparation room I told the anesthetist to warn me about the last 10 seconds before I went under, for me to say my syahadah. Then everything went blur...
I have been under GA (General Anesthesia) before once in the operation in 2005 and this is the second time. It's just like going into a deep deep sleep, minus the dreams. Then I woke up and the first three faces I saw was Shahfree, Hakimi and his wife. They told me it was already 1:00 am that time. I remembered the doctor telling me that he could do it in 1 hour or at most 2 hours top. It worried me a bit trying to figure out why it took much longer than expected but I was just too tired to think and besides, I was just relieved that it was finally over. The doctor's was the fourth face I saw when he came in to let me know that operation went well despite the surprise he gets when he saw that the condition of the prolapsed disc was much worse than he thought -his actual words was "We were afraid when we saw it. It took longer to make sure that we can remove part of the disc but at the same time not to damage your nerves, ligaments and muscles too much." A further relief. I spent a quiet night alone under the watchful eyes of the nurse in the ICU that night.
I woke up sometime the next day (Something about ICU; you really couldn't tell the time of the day when you're in there). I still couldn't get up but at least I'm in very good care. I must have been telling many of the staffs that 'I wasn't supposed to be there' that by now, some of them started calling me "The Unexpected Guest"...
Later a face of an old dear friend, Naz, who came to visit brightens the otherwise gloomy ICU. I didn't remember much of Day 3 except that at some point, they wheeled me out of the ICU and into the High Dependency Care Unit for neuro patients. No pictures or anything this time as I was only reunited with my BlackBerry much later. But my surgeon did come around to the ICU to pass this to me as a souvenir - the part of the 4 cm disc that they took out from my spine!
Maybe I should frame it as a reminder to take care of my back in future...
My biggest achievement of the day was being able to pee, haha! The biggest downfall, literally, was when I woke up in the middle of the night wanting to pee and instead fell and hit the side cabinet. It was a slow fall but I still bruised my rib and got plenty of scolding from the staff nurse. Other than that, it was still a fairly restful night.
The doctor came on Thursday morning and checked that I was all okay. Nothing much happened that day. I was just busy replying to SMS, BBM and WhatsApp messages and replying to my previous FB postings. It's nice to have many friends and relatives. I just could not imagine lying in a hospital bed knowing that no one out there is thinking about you. That would be sad...
Based on my experience of similar operation in 2005, I'm guessing that I will be out of the hospital in a few days time and would be heading home in the next available flight.
Anyway, much to my surprise, the doctor came in another ward round in the evening and found some pain that "should not be there" after they have removed the prolapsed disc. The were planning to do another MRI the next day. That night was not a restful night...
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