Cassandra's Surgery 5 Years Ago

The month of May has always been a very challenging month for me and it still is for this year.

Exactly 5 years ago today, at this hour, Cass and I went through the darkest time of our lives. She went for a major surgery to fix her urinary tract.

The surgery had a complication and the next 2 weeks was a nightmarish limbo for us as the surgeon did not know what was wrong with her that made her keep throwing up and retching. I will never forget the nightly X-rays, the Fluoroscopy test, the CT Scan and the insertion of nasal tube via her nostrils into her stomach, all without GA given to my poor baby.

After 3 weeks of being cooped up in the hospital, the Mother's Day cum 9th wedding anniversary celebration in the ward on the 27th of May 2009 was the happiest  for us. That was the day the surgeon gave the green light to remove all tubes from Cass and she was to be discharged the next day.

Exactly 5 years ago today, this was Cass after the first surgery...




5 years later on her 6th birthday on 9 April 2014, this is my happy baby Cass...


This month, Cass will have to go through several tests and tribulations. In a few days' time, she would have to undergo a Urodynamics Test in the hospital.

 In 2 weeks' time, she will have to sit for her mid year exam in pre-school. Next is her Sports Day and the last test and trial for the month will be on 25th May at Alycia and Sherilyn's school.

Cass has been approved by the MoE for entrance into the school that her 2 che ches are attending, subject to passing the school's internal assessment. Ever since the school was awarded High Performance School status last year, the school has been coming up with a suite of activities, tests, trials and competitions for the students. In order to be accepted into this school, new students would have to sit for an assessment to gauge their level of literacy and numeracy for streaming purposes. And I think that for students who do not meet the mark they will be declined acceptance into the school.

I can only pray for God's strength to be given to Cass to go through all these tests and tribulations in her life.

Cass knows what she has to go through in a few days' time and since yesterday, she has been telling me as a matter of factly, "mummy, I will not cry no matter how pain the test is. I will hold my tears. I will never lose my battle"

Cass  is really the bravest little girl (and very stubborn too!) I have ever met!

Baby C Has Post-Operative Ileus or Lazy Guts

My heart is crushed. My poor baby is now ordered to stay away from breast milk and all other forms of liquid as she has post-operative Ileus or lazy guts. Today is the 7th day my poor baby has not eaten any solids. She has been super fretful and crabby today. We had spent almost the whole day at the X-ray department today when our doctor ordered that she does a Fluoroscopy to rule out guts obstruction. Thank God her guts are not obstructed, albeit they are inactive, hence the reason why she kept puking and has been unable to retain any fluid in her tummy. I really thought for sure my baby would have to be wheeled into the OT for a surgery tomorrow to fix her guts when our doctor suspected that her guts were obstructed.

Whilst I was putting her to sleep a while ago, my sweetie-pie kept crying and fussing. She was really hungry and was crying "mek mek" (milk milk) as she put her hand inside my pajamas and wanted to suckle. I kept telling her that she can't drink mummy's milk or she will puke again but this fler kept crying and crying and was really upset. It crushes my heart too to see her in hunger and in pain and being deprieved of something that can give her so much comfort and security.

Baby C's Post Surgery - Day 3

Yesterday (Friday) was Baby C's 3rd day post surgery. Her temperature was still hovering in the 37ish degrees Celsius region. The half-hourly puking sessions have stopped but each time she drank my milk (albeit in very little amount), she puked. Baby is still very weak and still could not muster a smile and could only cry feebly like a little kitten.

Baby C's Post Surgery - Day 2

Baby C has stopped puking since last night. She has also passed flatulence and poo poo yesterday. So the doctor gave me the green light to start feeding her with small amount of breast milk. Initially, I was really worried that my sweetie-pie would reject my boops as she was so weak and listless but boy was I wrong. The minute I put my boop to her mouth, she devoured on it like she used to before the surgery!

However, an hour later, my poor baby puked the milk out when she was sleeping... all over her hair and body... and the bad part is we can't bathe her or wash her hair for at least another week! No amount of wiping could remove the vomit stench from her hair. The same thing happened a few hours later when I nursed her again. The nurses then had to aspirate out the milk from her tummy, eewww! I just hope her guts will be able to digest and tolerate breastmilk better by tomorrow without anymore puking.



Breastfeeding my sweetie-pie has never been this difficult before. With all the tubes dangling from her body and from the machine, I've had a tough time lying down next to her to nurse her. I even had to climb into her tiny cot, lie down next to her extra carefully and contort my body (so that it fits into her tiny cot) to nurse her! Oh gawd, all these are stressing me out to the max. I don't even need ephedra to help me lose weight. Even without exercising for 10 days during my stay in the hospital, I am pretty sure my weight will drop in no time.

Baby C's Post Surgery

This is Baby C first day post operation. When her fever shot up to close to 40 degress Celsius, the nurses sponged her down and gave her suppositories. She was also given a cool bedding to sleep on and ice pack for her head. Still the fever did not subside, not at all. I kept sponging her throughout the day and night and also left her without any clothes on, save for a piece of pillow case to cover her tummy and legs, though in an air cond room. Thank God, her temp came down this morning.



My poor baby has not been drinking or eating since Tuesday. And poor me, I've been expressing my milk all day long and throwing them away. Hopefully I will get the green light from the surgeon to start nursing her tomorrow.