(Day 4)

I woke up at 7.30am, to prepare for my appointment scheduled at 10am. Breakfast was the same as the past 3 days and still struggling to use the syringe, I even attempted to drink using a straw but it failed miserably.

After over 30 minutes of travelling, I finally arrived at the National Dental Centre to see Dr. Danny. The waiting time was less than 10 minutes, first he removed the bandages around my chin (like finally!), removed the rubber bands around my teeth and proceeded to clean them. I then proceeded for an X-ray and once again he was pleased with the result, to the point saying that I'm one of his best patients due to the expected speedy recovery. Lastly, he put on 2 rubber bands (one of each side) and all was done and the next appointment with him will be on Friday. 

Finally I was able to speak much clearer and the freedom of opening my jaws a little, I could even eat more varieties of liquid diet. The first thing I ate other than ensure milk was soya beancurd (tao huay) from Mr. Bean for dessert, as there wasn't anything prepared for lunch I had a can of vanilla ensure milk followed with a few scoops of ice cream with chocolate fudge (yummy!). Dinner was better as mum was home to cook those tiny letter pasta with chicken soup, boy did the sense of some sanity return. We then headed to the nearby supermarket to stock up on more liquid diets such as soup, horlicks and oatmeals for my meals the next few days.

It was definitely a sense of relief to be out of the syringe, ensure milks and using spoons and straws once again. Though my face is still puffy, it will eventually die down slowly within the next few days as told by my surgeon. It was also great to take my medication in tablet form as...  
IT TASTED HORRIBLE WHEN CRUSHED!!!

(Day 1)

I had a horrible sleepless night the day before but felt much better today. Gone were the dizziness and the urinary catheter was finally removed, though it stung like hell when the nurse was removing it, but hey there weren't restrictions any longer and could settle nature's call in one shot.

Finally, I woke up at 7am in the morning knowing that my surgeon along with his team would come to check on me anytime soon. They came and I told them of my experience the night before, everything sounded fine to them and said they would see once more later in the evening. I was then wheel-chaired down to the dental clinic to get my teeth cleaned and had an X-ray to check on the recovery. I was also taught on how to clean my teeth on my own, it was easy as I had no problem doing it after. After which, I saw myself on the mirror for the first time since the surgery and to my surprise, the swelling wasn't that bad as expected. Breakfast was my first time having ensure milk and it tasted jolly good, this would be used for all my meals for the next few days.

The remaining morning was spent dozing of trying to pass time and in the early afternoon, Sarah came down to visit and accompanied me throughout the next hour. It got pretty annoying having my mouth completely tied with rubber bands as all people could hear coming out of my mouth was "mmmmm" and being a chatty person, this was never my game. The only way to communicate effectively was through written or text messages. After Sarah left, I was transferred to the normal ward and attempted going back to zombie mode after having ensure milk once again for lunch but failed. When evening hit, Amri (secondary school friend) along with my mum and bro came down and kept me company till 9pm. My doctors came down once again and updated me on the recovery, they were pleased with the results shown on the X-ray taken earlier and said that if everything went as expected, I would be discharged by afternoon the day after (Sound of joy from the inside!) The IV was then taken off of me and felt the freedom of moving my left hand though the needle was still intact in case of any injections needed, I was also able to take a stroll around the hospital compound with Amri and accompanied him for dinner, ensure milk once again for myself and Ayam Penyet for himself (drools...).

The night felt young but I couldn't do much and anticipated my discharge.

(Day 2)

I slept much better last night and woke up at 7am once again, anticipating the arrival of my doctors to drop the good news. When they finally came down, they did a thorough check on me and said the words I have been anticipating "All's good, you will be discharged by afternoon". I grabbed my phone and sent a mass text to my mum, girlfriend and friends informing them of my discharge and left the hospital by 12 noon. 

I was prescribed antibiotics, panadols and supplied with cans of vanilla and strawberry ensure milks. Sandra arrived at the right time to pick me up and was my speech translator for the day, we took a cab to my home and got myself to shower the moment i arrived, I felt so fresh and excited to pass the day as I usually do.

In the evening, Sandra and I went for mass at Holy Family (Though I was just discharged, I'm still mobile and fit of course!) and accompanied her for dinner at Katong Laksa. It got real depressing after the sight and scent of the food got to me as I'm still on ensure milks and it got stale, but the words of encouragement from Sandra kept me standing firm and I said to myself that this suffering is only temporary for a lifetime result. I wore a mask out to conceal my bandages and puffy face as being a self-conscious person, I wasn't ready for others to see me in this state.

When I got back home, I had my dinner and it took longer than usual due to the sudden usage of syringes and I wasn't used to it yet. I just couldn't wait for my next appointment on Monday to remove the bandages on my chin which got real annoying,

25th July 2013 has finally arrived and it's time to fix my underbite yipee-ki-yay!!! Woke up exactly at 5.00am after receiving a wake up call from my friend whom will be accompanying me for admission (Thanks Sarah! Owe you a meal).

Registration went smoothly and once again I was on the receiving end of the needle for blood test (counted to a total of 8, had blood donation for this surgery a few days earlier and the nurses ran into some trouble, oh great!). Thank goodness I had companion to chat with as I would be completely silent 9 hours later. After donning the surgery gown, it was time to proceed up to the operation theatre. Said goodbye to my friend and sending messages to my mum and other friends to update them, after which I proceeded up and was being stretched to the operation theatre. A team of surgeons were there (along with Dr. Danny Tan) to greet me and were all prepared for the 7 hours long surgery. Once again I received the needle not once but twice (that made it a total of 10 times for the week) for IV drip and my pack of blood to be donated back to myself, the last moment I recalled was Dr. Tan saying "Everything will be fine" before getting passed out by the general anaesthesia.

I woke up at approximately 5pm and the first words I heard were "The surgery was a success", 9 hours have passed but I felt like only a few seconds have passed. There wasn't any pain, but the dizziness made me uncomfortable and nauseous, vomiting while my mouth was shut wouldn't be a pleasant experience so I tried my best not vomit and made myself as comfortable as I could. It took 30 minutes for my ward to be ready and by 5.45pm, I was on my bed. The first thing I wanted to do was for my hand-phone to be returned to be my side as I wanted to update everyone and inform them of my current ward. 

I had a few visitors for the night though I didn't had the energy to open my eyes nor speak due to the dizziness. First were my friends from secondary school followed with my mum and lastly my girlfriend along with her family and by 9pm the night was all to myself, the first thing that struck my mind was for this dizziness to fade.

Hello everyone!

I had been hiding this from my friends for years (self-conscious :P) and it only surfaced to them as I have decided to drop the news a few months prior to the operation which I will be going for tomorrow morning as I do not see any reason to hide it further and that it's only right for them know.

 I was totally oblivious on such cases until 2011 after reading up online. All I had to my knowledge was my upper and lower teeth not meeting evenly as my lower jaw was protruding, initially thought of it to be nothing. Anyhow, I started to suspect that something wasn't right and decided to consult an orthodontist. It was only then that the word "underbite" came to light and I was diagnosed with class III underbite, with the only way to correct the bite was through surgery. The word "surgery" gave me chills down my spine but I knew that it would have to be done if I wanted to my bite to be corrected. It was an optional surgery but I made a firm decision that I will correct my bite and gave Dr. Danny Tan, my surgeon the green light to begin treatment on me. Treatment was not immediate though, as braces were needed to be worn to get my teeth in their proper position in order to accurately measure the length needed to push back my jaw.

It has been 1 year 8 months since I first put on braces (November 2011) and remembered the first week with braces was crazy, I simply felt like ripping them off as my teeth were sore to the point that chewing on noodles got depressing. This time however, it will be about a week of pure liquid diet and probably a month +/- before I'm able to resume my eating habits. In the weeks leading up to the surgery, I was educated on the risks, what to expect post-surgery and was totally prepared for it as I just want this to be finished asap. The past few days were filled with excitement and nervousness at same time as it will be the first time that I will be experiencing going under the knife (not that I will be awake but whatever...) and filled my stomach with as much delicious food as I could to prepare for the weight lost and liquid diets.

Like every surgery, there is a risk. There's a chance I may face permanent numbness on my lips and chin but the intercessions from my peers and the faith in God gave me the much needed boost in confidence to go for it. I have complete trust in my surgeon on this as he has years of experience performing this surgery and does it 1-2 times a week. Time to take a good rest as my surgery is scheduled to take place at 8.30am tomorrow (25/7) and reporting time is at 7am, therefore the need to wake up at 5.30am is mandatory due to the travelling time and preperation. Goodnight world!

One of our sisters in the community has left us to answer God's calling, to be a Carmelite nun. We will never see her in person again as she has sacrificed the luxuries to live a consecrated life and that means never seeing the outside world ever again except certain circumstances such as illness.

Despite only knowing her for a short period of time (1 year to be exact), her words of wisdom and preaching the word of God gave each and everyone of us in the community the inspiration and understand Him more than we thought we had, and she is Karen Wee. She had left on July 7 2013 to return to her hometown of Sarawak, Malaysia as she chose to join the Carmelite monastery there and joined the other nuns on July 16 2013. Prior to that week, the Amplify community held a surprise farewell potluck party for her with some or shall I say most us sharing our tribute and thanks to her when we were given the time when it was nearing to the end of the program.

I loved how the event planners decorated the room with pictures of her with us throughout the years. Credits to them for the wonderful event and for being gregarious hosts.

Saying grace before meal, hoping that I will be able to pray spontaneously and willingly like her one day.

She was truly a mentor to all of us and with her intercessions, that surely kept us standing tall. Her kind and approachable nature gave me the trust and confidence in speaking to her about my faith and troubles at times and bring ministered by her occasionally also gave me a feeling of peace and security.

Thank you Karen for everything, like what Royston said, you are the "Mother Mary" on Earth. Though I'm happy for you, at the same time I'm sad that you have left us. It was a joy and privilege to serve with you in the intercessory team for Awaken 7, your words had truly touched me.

What a memorable night