Thursday, September 17, 2009
After Surgery Well, surgery's been done, as of now I have an additional chest tube to drain off excess air from the op.Doctor says that the chest tubes would be removed today or tomorrow. After which, it'd take an extra day of recovery or so before I'm discharged.
What, something up then?
Yeah. I've heard of fun things awaiting me at the school's Mid-Autumn Festival celebration. I'd definitely want that.
Labels: daily life
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Posted on 5:50 PM.
Monday, September 14, 2009
One more week. I didn't make it.No way...
Yeah, I'll be needing surgery. After which I'll have to rest up for up to a week more before I'm discharged, and I still cannot move heavy loads about yet.
Don't worry. You'll make it.
Labels: daily life
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Posted on 1:07 PM.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Improving. Still in hospital, but condition's improving.The air pocket has shrunk down considerably, but they need full deflation before they remove the tube and I can be discharged.
Well, at least I don't need the drip anymore. My right arm can move more, and I can type with both hands now.
But if I don't have full recovery by Monday I'll be needing surgery to seal the leak.
Hope you fully lose that last bit tomorrow for good.
But to be honest, I'd rather take the surgery. Granted, I'll have an extended hospital stay or something, but the doctor said that it will reduce chances of further similar cases popping up.
If it heals naturally I have a greater chance of something like this happening a second time. Surgery would be inevitable then.
Hmm...
Labels: daily life
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Posted on 2:05 PM.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Living Through a Tube Well, there goes my 1-week break.On Tuesday I got hit with spontaneous pneumothorax.
When an air pocket forms between the lung and the chest cavity. If left unchecked it could expand and eventually result in death.
It first felt like an inner muscle cramp. I was hoping it was just that. Then the X-rays displayed otherwise. Ended up in hospital with a tube in my torso to drain the air pocket. They say I can get discharged once the air pocket shrinks to safe levels.
Next morning: Air pocket seems to have expanded despite pain subsiding. Seems that there's a leak in my lung, and needs more time to mend. Evening X-ray showed no improvement, too.
Thursday: Not much improvement in condition. They even attached a pump to help out in further drainage. I did get visits from several friends, though.
Today: Some improvement shown. X-ray suggests that air pocket is still there, I can only hope that it's smaller than before.
Looks kinda bleak, huh...
Furthermore, the tube prevents me from raising my right arm. I can't write, I can't draw. Left arm's doing all the typing.
I want to go back. I want to use both arms again.
Chin up, stay hopeful. You'll get better soon enough.
I will recover. I will recover. I will recover...
I'll get my right arm back. I'll get my right arm back. I'll get my right arm back...
Labels: event
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Posted on 4:54 PM.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Logs from Sweden Ah, how long have I gone without blogging?To be exact, about 2 and a half weeks.
Damn, that's too long.
So, anyway, I've gotten back about 2 1/2 weeks ago, and while I was there I noted down the entries during the days, so...
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Day 1
14 - 15 Aug 2009
Whoa, that flight was long. Took a whole 12 hours of transit, and we've still got another 2 hour flight to Stockholm. Time here says it's 6.30 am, but my body thinks 12.30 pm. Gotta tune to the time zone difference.
Ah, there's a beautiful sunrise outside. Guess this really IS summer.
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Well, we made it to Stockholm, and it appears the group members are scattered across different rooms in the hostel, in order to facilitate socialization amongst people from different countries. Here, in room 231, is Lahiru from Sri Lanka, Alonso from Chile, and Simon from Germany.
And Alonso doesn't speak fluent English. There's going to be some problems speaking with him. Took us several minutes and a drawing or two to actually understand what he was trying to say. It's the first time I see someone about my age have a business card, though. Heh.
They said the hostel's also got Internet service at the reception area, albiet at 1 kronor per minute. That's about S$12~S$14 per hour, and looks pretty expensive. Maybe I'll give that one a shot for a short while sometime.
The weather's reported to worsen later in the day, but it's still looking pretty good, even at this time. Who knows what will happen tomorrow.
Oh, yes, we also happened to have a nice view of some fireworks that shot up at around 10pm (+2 GMT). Been a while since I last saw fireworks in person.
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Day 2
16 Aug 2009
Today's weather is looking fine, too, though it appears to have rained in the night. Doesn't change much on our schedule though.
So, today is the day when we set up our poster and present to the jury. 15 minutes total for presentation time and jury discussion, but the whole judging session's going to take up the afternoon.
Anyway, the judging session worked pretty fine. The judges looked pretty impressed with our project, and I feel that we could win this thanks to the novel ideas that this project involves. Well, there's still tomorrow's judging session, so time will tell.
I took a look around the other groups. Interesting ones include an auto-tap-shutoff mechanism from South Africa, an alternative to activated charcoal by Sri Lanka, a roof-garden cooling setup by Japan, and an adaptable flood dam by the Netherlands. These are some very interesting projects around.
Late after dinner was the International Cultural Cabaret, held back in the hostel. Wasn't of as great a magnitude as we thought. Some groups donned their cultural dress and did their cultural dance, others made do with distributing unique food items, and a few went with music pieces. Our group sang Singapore Town and Where I Belong, and compared to some impromptu acts from a few countries I could say we did a pretty good job.
The wind's getting damn strong. Really good for kites, but very bad for unsecured papers. It gets a little chilly, but not so much that I have to put on a second layer. Hah.
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Day 3
17 Aug 2009
The Swedish really love their water, don't they? They've got plain carbonated water. Drinking it is like drinking a fizzy drink with your taste buds disabled. Well, at least the flavoured ones aren't so bad.
Opening ceremony for the World Water Week's today. Opening speeches were done, along with a presentation by the winner of the Stockholm Water Prize winner. Apparently he's designed a toilet system where the waste ends up being recycled as compost. Ah, and apparently during the talk a few of us ended up dozing off. A few pictures were taken, and hilarity ensued.
So, today's the second day of the judging. Unlike the first day, it was much slower as everyone's probably already gotten a look at everyone else's poster, so yeah. It ended considerably ahead of schedule too. Oh, and since there's free Internet there, I went in to get a few updates on things.
Ah, it rained, too. It came so suddenly and dissipated just as sudden I could conclude that it was cold frontal rain. Interesting.
Afterwards, a tour around the old Stockholm town. Plenty of nice sights, and interesting camera opportunities. Not to mention that since Sweden's consisting of several small interlinked islands there were some very nice boats.
So, the judging days are done, and the winner of the SJWP will be announced tomorrow. Damn important day, wish us luck then.
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Day 4
18 Aug 2009
Today's the day where the prizes are given out. Nothing much for this except rehearsal for the ceremony. All breaths are being held for the moment.
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And now with the winners announced, it appears that Turkey won the SJWP this year. The other Certificates of Excellence went to Israel and Canada. Funny thing is, all teams are solo girls. Yep, we were outmatched by solo girls.
But what the heck, making it here is already a good enough achievement.
And afterwards, dinner in the Parkside restaurant. We mixed with a bit of the judges of the competition and chatted for a while. And after a while the music kicked up and we began dancing to it. Once again the hosts (Jimi in particular) got up to their eccentricities.
Now with the serious part of the trip done, it's taking it easy for the other two days... almost. Gotta remember who to get souvenirs for, too.
Ah, yes, I also tried out the internet. It's only fixed to a couple terminals, and is paid by the minute like arcade consoles. Unfortunately it has some trouble loading overseas sites, and there's little I can do on public Internet. Oh well. At least I won't overspend.
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Day 5
19 Aug 2009
First part of the day went to a boat excursion. We basically took a little trip about a small portion of the Baltic sea, and midway we stopped to pick up a sample from the bottom of the floor. We ended up scooping up quite a lot of mud, some rocks, broken shells, and one live shellfish... but that's about it. Whilst travelling the wind picked up considerably, forcing me to use the jacket for the first time this week.
The second part of the day was pretty much free and easy in Stockholm. Shopped for souvenirs, and took a little walk about the city. Apparently we were also pretty close to the Stockholm Parliament. Nice.
After that, we went bowling. It's definitely VERY different from the Wii game, and my shots were rather inconsistent, often guttering just before the ball reached the pins. Probably scored around 30 points. I suck... orz
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Day 6
20 Aug 2009
Last day with events here. We went to visit Skansen, an open-air zoo. Aside from just being a zoo, there were other things like what appears to be a village here... or at least what used to be a village.
Pretty big place, I've only wandered around and seen about half of it, but those are where all the animal exhibits are. Took plenty of photos, and found myself erasing past unneeded ones to clear for space.
After lunch, we prepared for the Stockholm Water Prize Ceremony and Royal Banquet. Problems ensued when my school blazer did not quite fit the requirement for "dark suit", but fortunately I could borrow a suit about my size from my national organizer.
The Ceremony's held at the City Hall, and it's a pretty grand place. Forgot to bring a camera, though I probably wouldn't need it. Photography of the Royal Family is prohibited, they say.
Nothing much to the banquet, particularly because we were all seated on the balcony and didn't get much of a view of the goings-on inside the hall. I mostly conversed with those on my table about daily life and school in our countries. The food was rather unique too, with the chicken and artichoke puree packed together in a single cylindrical shape. o.o
And afterwards we picked up our posters, had a little photo slideshow from the previous few days, exchanged souvenirs and had our last bit of small talk before our departures tomorrow. I'd better start packing, too.
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Day 7
21 Aug 2009
Packing, done. Time killing, done. Departure, awaiting. Souvenirs, given out, with the exception of some souvenirs brought in from school. Batteries, charged... maybe I'll find a power source for my handphone later. Keys returned, room settled. That's about everything before I leave the hostel. Perhaps a few things left to do would be to snap a few pictures of the area before I leave for good.
Ho boy, looks like our "Singapore Town" managed to stick with some people. Well, the song was made to be catchy, so yeah...
So long, Sweden, and thanks for all the potatoes.
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Well, that's quite about it on the events in Sweden. Apparently the souvenirs I got cost about 700 kronor total, about S$140. Mother's made a bit of a fuss on the prices, but hey, it's Europe. Prices like that are to be expected.
Labels: event
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Posted on 6:10 PM.
