PEG ISSUE

There I was, clutching my tummy in pain, waiting for my turn to see the doc. I’d been having some issues on my Peg for a few days. There had been some pain around the tummy area but it was bearable. But, this was crazy. Then, “Sharifah, exam room 135 please”.

I then dragged my feet into the room and asked to lie down. After briefing the doc on my source of pain, she pressed firmly on my tummy where the tube was, and “bushhhh”, out came the tube, along with some of my lunch. And like magic, the pain was totally gone. That was when I realized how fortunate I was …the tube could have come off when I was pouring down my lunch just a few hours earlier. And if that was the case, where would my food have gone to? The thought of it is enough to make me shiver….and my lips quiver. She then replaced the tube with something that looked like a rubber tubing to prevent the hole on my tummy from closing up.

Then, the good doc said that I had to be warded because she wanted to make sure that there was no infection and I was in good shape. So, I did what the doc said and spent the night in ward 7A, the same ward I was in after my surgeries way back in 2008. There were a few familiar faces when I was wheeled into the ward. One of the nurses said that I’m going to have a long life (panjang umur) because just minutes before my arrival at the ward, she mentioned to her colleagues about not seeing me for a very long time and she was wondering how I was doing. Hmm…talking about karma….

I had a good sleep that night after taking some milk through my mouth. In the morning, I showered and got into a fresh pair of hospital pajama and walked down to get some papers as I was restless. I was not prepared to spend the night at the ward. So, I did not bring my laptop along. An elderly lady, who was accompanying her daughter, commented on how energetic I was for someone who is on tube feeding. Her daughter, who was of the same age as me was going through chemo because she has lymphoma and was very weak because of it. So, I explained that I was there just to get my feeding tube replaced. I was not sick or anything like that….