Chapter 10. What happened while I wasn’t aware

From the previous story, I went into the cardiac operating room, given an anesthesia injection… and I also fell in an unconscious condition…with the unaware condition reason, I shouldn’t entitled to write anything in this Chapter, unless …. Zzzzz …. zzzzz …. zzzzz …. or maybe even zzzzzds ZzzzzDS …. …. zzzzzds …. with a note, DS = deep sleep …. hehehe…

However, after I realized in the ICU and got into the treatment room, I was just old, particularly by my sister Enny – that before this, I was suffering from severe bleeding, even up to 3 times. I maybe couldn’t be saved, if only the staff of the operation section or dr. Maizul Anwar couldn’t operate me on February 10, 2011 ..

Apparently, although the 10^th of February 2011 was the choice of the operating room scheduling officer, maybe God had outlined or chose the most appropriate date for me to undergo the heart surgery.

As it’s known that the 10^th of February 2011 was on Thursday –the next day was Friday, the last day of weekdays. Meanwhile, the 10^th of February 2011 was the penultimate day of the end-term exam period in Binus where I have taught over years. As it turned out, from the pieces of the story that I heard after I’d been aware…. my friends from BPPT and the Ministry of Research and Technology boarded the office bus specially came to Harapan Kita Kita Heart Hospital to help me with the blood donor. I heard that my friends from BPPT and the Ministry of Research and Technology filled up one bus or they were about 25 people.

Chapter 9. Delivered into the operating room

My watch showed at 00.00 on Thursday, February 10, 2011. After the kitchen staff gave me the “last supper” of a strawberry pie and a sweet hot tea,  then I drank it quickly – so I once again tried to sleep since at 4.00 in the morning I would be awakened by the nurse according to the news that I received …

I then tried to sleep in a “deep sleep” which was cozy, without dreams, without delirium, only in an irregular heartbeat….

Suddenly, “Sir … sir … get up, sir, it’s already 4 o’clock.” I then woke up quickly because I had never had a 100% soundly sleep if in the morning there was an important event.
“What’s the matter, Sir?” I asked.
“Mmm… Sir… I want to shave your pubic hair, Sir and I would shoot your back area…,” said the male nurse calmly.

After that, the male nurse set up a “shotgun” to “shoot” my ass. After it was ready, a pointy-end bottle was inserted into my rectum, then all the content of the bottle was pumped into my stomach. About 2 minutes later, it was not frivolous in my stomach, and something seemed to be out of my stomach through my ass…. if needed, soon… yeah soon!

I then immediately ran to the bathroom to dump everything on my stomach. With one push, all of my entrails were out without any exception. After flushing them with water several times, I then rinsed my ass, and back up into my bed. It was a relief because all my entrails had spilled out – including the strawberry pie and the sweet hot tea served in the mid last night…

Chapter 8. Checking in the Pre-Ops room and the performed rituals

Waiting for almost a month until the surgery day arrived could feel fast either slow, depending on what perspective we looked. It felt fast because there are a lot of preparations that needed to be done in less than a month, with most of the time were used to seek the information from the internet via Google and YouTube. Google was used to search for textual information, and YouTube was used to find the videos of Bentall procedure surgery.

My sister – whose house I stayed in before the heart surgery – liked to ask me about this and that. Luckily, I could reply steadily, thanks for a long Googling. Fortunately, I also had a “photographic memory” which was an ability to remember a lot of things or details completely. So by hearing my explanation, my sister seemed quite satisfied.

Well, both of the textual information via Googling and seeing the videos on YouTube, I didn’t copy + paste them, but I just “bookmarked” them so that if someday I needed the information I could just click on it.

From the videos on YouTube I saw, if there were the videos that were very relevant to the Bentall operation procedure, I often posted the link on my Facebook’s wall; so many Facebook friends could see it. But I thought there were more friends that didn’t want to see or couldn’t stand to see them. For example, there were many of my office colleagues who were more likely to reject than to accept my invitation to see the videos that had been succeeded I linked to my Facebook.

“Ah I don’t have the guts. Too much blood,” they excused.

Chapter 7. Preparation of the cardiac surgery

I still remembered the moment I met the doctor who treated me, dr. Aryo Suryo, besides he gave the Operation Request Form to dr. Anwar Maizul who would operate me, he also gave two more forms to be given to the otolaryngologists (ENT specialist) and the dentist in the form of the Operation Preparation Form. FYI, in the Harapan Kita Hospital, which had got ISO-9000 certification, all the processes always started or ended by using particular forms.

Why were ENT and Dental surgery important for the operation preparation? Because both of these very necessary for the safety and ease of the heart surgery. If one was having problems with the ENT, there would be a fear of the ear; nose and throat germs spread to the heart so that the cardiac surgery wound healing could be obstructed. Similarly, if the cardiac surgery patient’s teeth contained a lot of the dental caries, there would be a fear of the dental caries’ germs spread to the heart and made difficult the results of cardiac surgery wound healing.

I then did the “self assessment” about myself, about whether I was fit for the operation according to the otolaryngologists or the dentist. From this assessment, I concluded that I would easily get a clearance letter from the otolaryngologist, considering I had never had a case or a serious otolaryngology illness before. While from the dentist I might find a little problem, considering the condition of my teeth since I was still a student which it had always been problematic.

My assumption proved correct; the otolaryngologist at the Harapan Kita Children and Maternity Hospital immediately gave me a clearance letter for the cardiac surgery. After examining my eyes using a flashlight and using the same flashlight to check my nose and ears, then the otolaryngologist used a kind of a tuning fork to be rung on my ears. While filling out the Surgery Preparation Form, the otolaryngologist said, “There is no problem with your ENT, Sir.” Mean that ENT preparation was completed.

Chapter 6. Meeting the cardiac surgeon

As noted in my Patient Discharge Report, my heart impairment needed further action for correction which is called “Bentall procedure” surgery. Basically the surgery will replace my swollen blood vessel with a sleeve made of dacron fibers. My heart impairment was that my blood vessel which called “aorta” has been swollen twice the original width, a phenomena which called “aortic dilatation”, and in turn this swollen blood vessel made my heart pumped so hard just to flow the blood to my whole body as the blood which has been pumped up will go down again, a phenomena which called “regurgitation”. This blood “regurgitation” which go down so fast in turn will hit my aortic valve and it made my aortic valve to be broken. The swollen blood vessel coupled with broken aortic valve both needed an action which is called “Bentall procedure” surgery, a complex surgery which can only been done by a senior heart surgeon.

So, I decided to search more information on “Bentall procedure” surgery in the internet to look for what Bentall procedure is and how the cardiac surgeon conduct the operation to replace my swollen blood vessel and my leaked aortic valve, so that I can be well informed about the so-called “Bentall procedure” surgery. This is important so I can make sure to myself that the “Bentall procedure” surgery is just like that and just do it !

By the time I did my monthly control with my doctor, dr. Aryo Soeryo, SpJP, I was asked by him about the action needed to treat my illness. The doctor said “Bentall procedure operation must be done immediately Sir, as if it were not performed, then in the next year when  your heart been photographed by the MSCT Scan, the chances are your aorta is widening further as wide as 7 cm in diameter“, said the doctor with the intention to inform me. Yet, to me it was like a “threat” – that meant if I had the Bentall procedure operation soon, then my heart impairment could be healed, but otherwise, it would get worse.

Chapter 5. Finding the right date of the operation

In the previous story, I told you that after being discharged from the first treatment at Harapan Kita Heart Hospital, because I was still thin, pale and weak, I had to be followed, accompanied and guarded everywhere. After I came back from hospital, my sister who lived in the same city as mine offered me to stay at her house for a while until my heart surgery done later. Maybe my sister was too anxious in case I fainted again at home. If I stayed at my sister’s house, there would be many people who could accompany me so the worrisome of fainting could be reduced….

Fortunately, besides my sister had a usable car, she had some relatives who could drive cars. Finally, wherever I went – whether to the office or campus – I was always accompanied by the Mister or the Miss who would be chauffeuring, waiting for my work, and sometimes buying me meals. What was clear was to providing sweet hot tea for me to drink in the 1-hour interval –because in the early days I came home from the hospital, if I felt weak, the best thing was to drink sweet hot tea.

In short, although I was somewhat hobbling, I could still go to the office and the campus. All my office works coincidently were taken over by some friends, but my teaching jobs impossibly could be replaced – considering I had 5 classes of Kapita Selekta (Colloquium) course which each class consisted of 230 students (so the number of students in Kapita Selekta classes were 1,150 students).