A health update. My uncle is going for his second major op tomorrow. I hope it goes well.
Anyway, he's been transferred to Gleneagles which is 5 minutes from my home, so mom has a much easier time ferrying my aunt to the hospital and back twice a day, every day.
My uncle hasn't eaten anything for almost 2 weeks now. He lost 20 kg since the start of his ordeal. Skin is hanging off his face and his lips are shrivelled from not drinking water for weeks. It's funny how something we take for granted like drinking water can suddenly be impossible to do.
Imagine not being able to drink, having a dry throat and mouth ALL the time. If you drank even a little bit of water, it would leak into your chest cavity and pool there.
It's infuriating to see him like this, especially when this whole situation could have been easily avoided.
So let me tell you what happened - from my point of view. Some of the facts maybe inaccurate or portrayed under a different light, but this was what happened from my perspective.
Note that there are 3 doctors involved in the first stage of my uncle's care. The surgeon, who cut him up; the oncologist, who will be in charge of his chemotherapy; and the gastroenterologist, the stomach specialist who will not appear in this account of the story.
The surgeon botched the surgery. As you may (or may not) know, his entire stomach was removed and his oesophagus was stitched directly to his small intestines. (And yes, digestion occurs in the small intestine so he can still eat, albeit a smaller amount at a higher frequency.)
Botched may not be the right word. Maybe the surgeon did all he could and my uncle simply didn't heal from the surgery. But anyway, something went wrong.
My uncle had severe constipation and was bloated shortly after the surgery. They did a scan where he drank coloured water to see if there was any problem with his system.
The scan revealed that the water stopped somewhere along his oesophagus and took an abnormally long time to trickle down into his intestines.
The surgeon then told us, the cancer must have spread to that area and blocked his oesophagus. He then hastened us to begin chemotherapy, even though my uncle was weak and obviously had problems with his system.
If you didn't know, chemo is a VERY painful and exhausting treatment and must not be done when the patient is not strong enough. Basically, it's a drug that inserted into the targeted part of the body and kills everything in its way - the main intent is to wipe out cancer cells, but healthy cells die as well. Nothing is spared.
So, knowing that, anyone would think it was weird that the doctor would be so impatient to start the chemo when the patient was obviously not fit enough to withstand it.
Luckily, the oncologist was a good family friend and knew better. He refused to start treatment against the surgeon's request until the cause of the problem was determined and eliminated.
Many scans later, the surgeon told us nothing and said that the scans were inconclusive - they needed to do more to figure out what was wrong.
8 days in the hospital and RM8000 later, NOTHING was done. My uncle lay in the hospital, being scanned and poked and probed and god knows what else - and still the surgeon refused to see us or tell us anything.
Frustrated, my mom requested a transfer to a different hospital who would ACTUALLY take action. The oncologist asked my mom why, and she told him that our surgeon was not being cooperative and is completely non-communicative. 8 days and he still hasn't found out what the problem was.
The oncologist was shocked.
He then told my mom that the report was released DAYS ago and they had already come to the conclusion that there is a leak about 2 cm long. That was why my uncle was bloating up - blood and pus and god knows what else has been leaking into his chest and abdominal cavity and has been pooled there for almost a MONTH.
The surgeon WITHHELD information from us.
He was fucking afraid to admit that something went wrong with the surgery. It was all there in black and white, signed and dated that they had discovered the cause of the problem, and yet the surgeon neglected to inform us about it.
Suddenly everything became clear - his evasive nature, his eagerness to say that the cancer had spread, his willingness to begin chemo on an unfit patient.
He was trying to begin chemo so that when something went INEVITABLY wrong, he could shift the blame to the oncologist.
He wanted to hide the fact that he did not sew his patient up properly. He actually PUT the patient's life at stake to save his own reputation.
The oncologist admitted he was very surprised that my uncle held up so long without displaying any stronger symptoms, like high fever or extreme pain. The fluid collecting in his body was extremely poisonous, and grows even more so every single day that it remains inside him.
The oncologist then told my mom that had he begun the chemo as advised by the surgeon, the drug would have BURNT HIM INSIDE OUT.
What in the fucking hell?
The surgeon CLEARLY knew this.
Not only did he withhold vital information from us, he also advised us to go ahead with treatment which would probably have killed my uncle.
Luckily, my mom was wiser than that and the oncologist was ACTUALLY looking out for my uncle's wellbeing.
When my mom saw the surgeon for the last time after intiating the transfer, he dared to ask us why we were changing doctors and hospitals.
My mom then told him that he was not communicating well with us and generally not doing anything helpful at all.
And you know what?
The bastard actually had the cheek to tell my mom that SHE WAS NEVER THERE WHEN HE WANTED TO SPEAK TO HER.
My mom is at the hospital for an average of 8 hours a day, EVERY SINGLE FUCKING DAY. Not there? Fuck you la. She drives up and down from Ampang to Assunta every single day, neglecting her own health, giving up her time (not to mention the petrol cost) to go to the hospital to visit my uncle and WAIT FOR THE DOCTOR TO ACTUALLY SHOW HIS FACE.
Then she asked him why he never told my uncle, if he was so insistent that he never saw us there. He responded and said that he ALREADY TOLD HIM, DIDN'T YOU KNOW?
YEAH RIGHT. My uncle said the surgeon never told him a SINGLE thing about his situation. That lying, conniving son-of-a-bitch tried to lie his way out of his mess.
He just spent 8 days, letting toxic waste to continue collecting in my uncle's body, pretending to do more scans and racking up more bills WHEN HE ALREADY KNEW WHAT WAS WRONG.
Not only did this damage my uncle physically, but emotionally as well. Imagine lying in a hospital bed for so long with your health deteriorating by the day, not knowing what was wrong with you...and nobody seems to have any solution for your problem.
HE WAS SURE HE WAS GOING TO DIE, FOR FUCKS SAKE.
And did his cancer spread? From the latest scans - no new growths could be seen. Not only did that idiot tried to scare all of us into starting the chemo - he LIED to us. He made a false assumption and tried to mislead us into doing something that he KNEW was dangerous.
Anyway, the day my uncle arrived at the new hospital, they did a quick scan, confirmed the problem and started treatment immediately.
There was a significant change in my uncle's outlook from that day. The problem had been identified, people were finally actively working to solve it - he now has a chance to pull through.
Anyway, this second operation wouldn't have been necessary if the surgeon hadn't blatantly misled us.
Due to all the delays, the septic fluid from the leakage had stewed in his body for so long - to the point that it is too thick to be sucked out, thus necessitating surgery to scoop it out.
It is also a risky operation. I hope he is strong enough to make it.
Never trust every doctor you meet. Not all of them have your best interests in mind. Some just want money and to upkeep their reputation, whether their patients suffer or die in the process or not.
If you can afford it, NEVER skimp on a good hospital and doctor. It may potentially save you from a lot of pain and maybe...your life.
Please pray for his surgery to go well tomorrow.
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