Recuperation

I got myself operated last week. The operation was on 22nd January. The operation was for a cyst under my neck. In medical terms it was submandibular excision. When I visited Max hospital on 14th Jan, the ENT specialist advised me to go for surgery. I was a bit apprehensive to go for operation, but he convinced me that there wont be any problem. He asked to get the blood test done.
Let me explain the prologue of this story. Before meeting the ENT specialist Mr Atul Mittal, I had seen couple of doctors but that didn't help much. I was on antibiotic and then advised for FNAC (I dont know what that stands for) but a needle was pierced in the affected area. For the first time they failed to get any tissue, then I was cordially invited to that diagnostic centre again to pierce another needle in the same area. The irony is that this was my new year gift. The first attempt was made by lady doctor and the second and final attempt was made by his husband. Then the pain started. The swelling was getting bigger. I had pain too. It was almost like a distorted ping pong ball. Then to make the situation worse, I started to have fever daily during evening. All these suffering lead me to see a good doctor.
When I visited the doctor again in Saket, he saw the blood test report and asked me to get it operated as soon as possible. I didn't have any choice other than choosing a date for the D-day. The doctor asked how is 21st Jan....Then came the negation, no...that is our wedding anniversary. Thanks to my wife Neetu, she wanted me to be well and not in recuperation at least in our 4th wedding anniversary. I agreed to that idea. Finally the D day was decided to be 22nd Jan. Then the usual formalities.
The hospitality business or shall I say hospital business has gone a long way in India. Now they present the options available to the patients in a way as if they are selling a product to a customer. I was told about rent of the one bed room where I will be kept pre and post operation and other charges for the surgery. When the Doctor came to know that I have a corporate medi assist card, a smile came to our face (his and mine) because none of us had to worry for the bucks. He was happy as he can charge the exaggerated amount and I was happy as I dont have to pay from my pocket. After doing those formalities, I was taken to anasthesia dept for getting myself checked if I can go for anasthesia on the D-day. The anasthesist gave green signal. I was told not to eat anything after dinner on 21st and nothing on 22nd morning.
After celebrating our wedding anniversary, we went to the hospital in the morning. We started early at around 6:30 in the morning. The situation was similar to the bride been taken to grooms house after marriage.......but it was the other way...groom been taken to hospital after the marriage anniversary.....dont know if this makes any sense.......I was admitted after depositing some nominal fees(to be adjusted in the final expense). I was taken to room 2409. I was given the green coloured gown to be worn for the surgery. The surgery time was 10:00 am, thats what was communicated to us by nurse. At 9:30, I was moved on bed and that feeling of being cut and operated crawled my mind. I looked at the faces of my family members....Neetu wishing me luck. I was kept in the pre operation ward for almost 2 hours. Then at around 11:30, I was taken to the operation theatre. There I met the anasthesist who examined me earlier. Another lady was with her. At that last moment she was explaining me the repurcussion of this operation. She didnt bother to frighten me by mentioning that during operation a vein near lips can be disturbed. That may keep half of my lips closed. She gave proper demonstration of this and asked me to do the same. Then she sarcastically laughed and mentioned that why am I keeping my lips half opened. I dont remember anything after that.
I was regaining consiousness at around 4 pm. I was getting that nauseating feeling. It felt as if I will vomit. After some time I was taken to my room 2409. There I saw everyone in my family waiting impatiently and worried. Thankfully everything went fine. Since then I am recuperating. Initially it was very painful to swallow anything. I was on painkiller for couple of days. Now the situation is much better. I can eat everything and there is very less pain while swallowing. This Saturday I will go to the Doctor to get the stitches removed.
This was the third operation of my life.