Reposting my FV Hospital experience last April 2010 from Spills and Spiels.  Hope this helps someone.

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I spent the day at FV Hospital to remove a cyst from my left leg as an outpatient.

To begin the process, I had to take a bath in povidone-iodine.  I used to work for a pharmaceutical company manufacturing just this and it was ironic I actually had to bathe in one.

The Vietnamese nurse led me to the showers and gave me my gown, a small towel and small bag to put my undies.  As I was finishing my shower, a male Caucasian was getting prepped too in the other cubicle and I overheard the nurse giving him two towels because he was so big.  LOL.

I was wheeled into the operating theatre at 8 am.  My doc forgot he had an appointment and arrived at 8:30am.  The last thing I remember was the anaesthesiologist gassing me to sleep and my doc talking to the other nurses about the death of a patient.  I thought it wasn’t a good thing to talk about with me on the operating table, right?

Next thing I know, I was choking in the recovery area with several other patients.  There was a tube in my mouth I think and I wanted to remove it myself because it was choking the life out of me.  Unfortunately, my arms felt so heavy to lift them and thank goodness one of the nurses saw I was and struggling to breathe.  The nurse on duty said it was 9:30am.  I had a very short operation, no?

They wheeled me back to the ward at 10 am where hubby met me for 5 minutes then left so I can sleep.  I didn’t sleep soundly but it was good to wake up at 11:30am when I can finally eat!

Actually, before they wheeled me into the theatre, I was already asking the French nurse (there was only 1 around) what time I could drink and eat.  Yup I was soooo hungry!  I think what got me through the operation was the thought of eating Kinh Do ribs at Peaches tonight.  I know it’s Good Friday but I had surgery.   So please forgive me.

My doc gave me the thumbs up to go home by 2 pm and told me to come back in two days to re-dress the wound.  He said it was lymphoma and the cyst was basically fats.  Ooooh great.  Another testimony that I’m fat.  I wonder if my weight lowered a bit from removing that cyst.  Hmmm….

Overall, my experience at FV Hospital is really good.  From giving me a call yesterday to remind me of my operation to assisting us every step of the way, 5 stars.  And it was great that they were the ones who coordinated with our insurance so we didn’t bring out any money at all (save for some painkillers) today.  So in a way, it was like a day in a spa — being waited on and all. 

Now, I’m back on my feet.  I pray there’s no more sting or pain.