Hey there,
So this week was knee replacement week. Have had a bunch of leg surgeries in the States, most of which were at lovely Swedish hospital in downtown Seattle, so doing it here was obviously a new experience.
In telling people about the surgery, they all asked who the doctor was and where was it gonna be done. I would only need to give you one guess that his name was Dr Chen, and the facility it happened was downtown at the Postal Hospital. A lot of raised eyebrows and comments like, "where?" and "that place is old." Betty had her work team look it up and Dr Chen is the knee replacement guy in town, having done hundreds of them, and the Postal Hospital is like his personal big top. He is the only doctor/surgeon in the two floor facility and while it is old, it functions like he needs.
Surgery was Tuesday but they make you check in the night before to get all the tests and make sure you don't eat. Got all the tests you'd expect with the funniest (for Betty) being the EKG. I went into the EKG "room" and it is basically their coat closet with a cot in it. I'm lying there looking up at all of the nurses jackets and bags. The poor girl administering the EKG kept putting the nodes on me, but do to the ample Mediterranean hair on my chest, they wouldn't stick, so she laughed and said she was going to use stickers. That worked for the purposes of the test but she said at the end that she would let me remove the stickers myself. I got back to my room and started to remove them. Not sure what they use for adhesive, but it ripped every hair off my chest like the 40 year old virgin.
For my entire life, I had in my mind that I was type O blood, but they took a test and said I was A. When they asked if I was sure I was O, had to say no cause I cannot remember where I had that understanding, so got sent back down to the desk where they did the test in front of me. Not just the phlebotomist, but the entire office was standing there watching. And as this is a weird old hospital, the seat is in a hallway with all the other patients waiting for their tests, so about 15 people are standing around watching the white guy get schooled on math and science by the Chinese. Racism? Perhaps.
At least we are both self aware of this and at hospitals here, the nurses don't do shit and they literally require family members stay with their patients to help them with food, get them to the toilet, etc. That was a bit of a surprise, but luckily we have a friend that is versed in these matters and she hooked us up with a girl that took care of her after he knee surgery. Eves (pronounced E-vez) came the afternoon of the surgery. Quiet girl of 25 from (one guess) The Philippines. Effin' Philippines and their caregivers man...amazing the niches places go to survive.
She came home with me and is hanging around for a few days to make sure I don't crash while Betty goes to work. I think caregivers are amazing souls and to my core appreciate her being here, but I saw this with my mom and that is that people that are independent souls get annoyed with others do stuff for them. I know I know I know it is her job and that she would get sent home if something happened, but she takes me to the bathroom every single time and waits right outside the door until I'm done. I don't have a problem farting in front of people, but on my own terms. And here is info that they don't highlight in the brochures...anesthesia constipates you. So I have been struggling with that and built up gas for days, and Evez gets to hear that symphony all day. Thank god I can wipe my own ass cause I might just have to end it all if I couldn't. It's been several days with her and part of me wants her gone, but I know it is best for all that she be around. It really sucks to know you are an asshole, but at least I know it and try to do better. Finding out a little bit about her, she works for an agency and when she isn't with a patient, lives in a dormitory with 20 other ladies, all of which are Indonesian. The Indonesian caregiver contingent is massive in this country, more so than the Philippines, cause they teach their kids Mandarin in school rather than the English typically done in The Philippines.. Kinda sucks for her and she says that the boss is kind of a dick. She has been here two years and is supposed to go home in May but hopes to stay on cause even though half of her salary goes to the agency (salary is NT2200 per day or about 70 bucks), it is still better money than she can make at home. She comes from a small town an hour or so north of Manila and told me yesterday that this was the second time she went home with a patient. Happen to know the other patient she went home with and 'kook' is the most apt description. I think she likes it here cause she has her own bedroom, a nice shower and she eats food with us, which has got to be better than the garbage she gets from the Taiwanese. Last night, Betty brought home Bulgogi bakes from Costco for dinner. They have some weird shit at the Costco deli here, like seafood pizza, but the Bulgogi bakes are yummy. Just like a chicken bake but with Korean bulgogi meat inside. A winner on any night. Evez is eating hers and we ask her how she likes it..."delicious!" It reminded her of shawarma, which I can see, but we could tell she just wasn't saying it was delicious to be polite. I was doing one of my exercises on the balcony and it was a lovely afternoon with the sun setting in all the colors of orange, and she says to me that she has never been on the 16th floor of any building before. It is currently Sunday and is her day off. She took off this morning to do whatever and she was telling us that when she isn't working, they make her stay in the dormitory and isn't allowed to be free. When she left, the smile on her face was priceless and was literally glowing about her day walking around town when she came home. Simultaneously heartbreaking and warming.
Have bitched about Taiwanese food for the last 10 years, but was forced to eat it at the hospital. Abomination is an appropriate word. Breakfast each day was this flavorless rice porridge with some wet other stuff, I guessed tofu as one of the items but have no clue what the other stuff was. Zero flavor and a texture of tile caulking. The Taiwanese are really clever at technology and think they have somehow figured out how to chemically remove any spice from their food. A couple days before the hospital visit, we went with the kids and our cousins family to hotpot. They revere hot pot like it is some fountain of youth extract, but it is just wet meat and vegetables. You're supposed to drown it in their sauces, which is just soy sauce and some green onions. It is fun to cook together, but I know for a fact they can do better. When we did our family roadtrip a couple weeks ago, we unexpectedly got shut out of the restaurant we were booked at so I agreed to go to a hot pot joint. At this place, they split the pot juice into two sides: one the normal wet dog drippings, and the other was this beautiful Szechwan broth that was spicy in all the right ways. I was blown away and kept asking Betty and Babydoll where this has been my whole life as it is a game changer. They say it is very common and the locals eat it all the time, which I know is total bullshit cause there is no way these folks could deal with the heat.
Surgery was at 9:30 on Tuesday and went as you'd expect. Wheeled in, got the anesthesia injected and woke up a couple hours later. Process took 45 minutes they say. I was totally numb from the waist down for a couple hours but once that wore off, the pain that first night was exquisite. The locals here are notoriously stingy with the meds and as everything is pay to play, when I begged for more, she comes in with a syringe and says this'll cost you NT700 ($21). Of course I am gonna say yes, but whatever juice it was did very little. I asked what it was and she said something, but this is where the fear of having surgery here manifests itself as only the doctor spoke good English while the rest of the staff spoke very little. The PT lady would speak into her translator app and show me the exercises I needed to do going forward. Was kinda lonely, perhaps I sent you a note just for some interaction, but I did get to watch CNN and all the Inaugural stuff. Totally cheesy but it felt so good. Tom Hanks was perfect as the MC and while it shouldn't be, just watching capable people say coherent things was a revelation.
Surgery was Tuesday and was supposed to go home Friday, but the doc took a look at me a few times, was satisfied with what he saw and said I could go home Thursday if I wanted. Being in my own space was appealing so home we went. Not gonna detail pain levels, but that first night was pure misery. Night two way better and everyday since better still. On the Friday after I came home, thought I could fight through whatever and was determined to walk to our local ShiDong veggie market, ostensibly to get fresh produce for the weekend but really just to prove I could do it. It's only 3 blocks away and it was tiring and hard, but made it. Next morning, the girls look at my ankle at is has gotten all puffy and swollen. They take my temperature and it is pretty high. Am finishing this section up on Tuesday morning and the swelling/temperature has been slowing getting back to normal. Point is, don't screw around with your rehab. Don't wuss out on it either, but being a tough guy/gal is pretty pointless cause few people admire it and most folks think you're an idiot, which I was.
I'm not editing this much and it was scribbled in spurts so try to read through the incoherence. Can't sit at a table too long cause it starts to feel swollen, and my attention span isn't great. I wrote last entry about mom in a far worse condition and hope it was OK. Yesterday during my afternoon nap, at the end I had a dream that my cellphone was ringing and I picked it up, and it was my mom. All she said was "John...John are you there?" before it woke me up. Don't consider myself too metaphysical, but know what the word means. Send this dream sequence to Betty and my sister/brother-in-law in our group chat and there is some talk about how relatives have visited them from the beyond, and of course Betty shares that this is an omen in Chinese. Side note, the Chinese have an omen for everything:, don't build a house facing North, don't point at the moon or your ears will rot, women that eat goat meat will get facial hair, etc.
I say that this could not be Mary Lou calling from the beyond cause she knew how much I cherish my afternoon naps and she was a creature of habit and routine so why would she wake me from my precious slumber? Then it occurred that maybe she got on the down elevator instead of the one going up and this is her way of messing with me? Who knows how the beyond really works, but if I'm right, know that mom is tidying up the warm place.
OK...for the record, I know share with you pictures of the knee inside and out. First is the x-ray and second is the scar. It's about 12 in/30 cm long but don't think it looks too gross. If that kinda thing weirds you out, don't scroll down.
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