• I walked into the theatre myself. There's no hospital bed ride (hehe).
• I smiled at the theatre nurses.
• I remember the anaesthetist attaching the luer on my left arm.
• I remember my ENT asking me some simple questions (but I've forgotten what they were), and him noticing that I was a bit cold and asked the nurse for a blanket for me.
• The surgery took 2-3 hours.
• After the surgery, they woke me up in the recovery room, and the nurse gave me some morphine for the severe pain. I was really just half awake then and don't remember much.
• I don't remember at all being wheeled into the private room, where Marco was waiting.
• I had two sets of sutures: 1) at the back of my mouth 2) from my ear down to my neck. The sutures inside the mouth gave me much more pain and discomfort.
• There was a small tube on the right of my neck where small amount of blood is being drained into a small container (they monitored the amount regularly).
• The right side of my face wasn't swollen yet at this point.
• I was coughing a little bit (which made me worry, but the ENT said it was fine).
• I had a jelly.
• I have to sleep a bit upright (45 degrees), just like before when I had the other surgery. Not easy.

• My mind was quite set that we we're heading home today but the ENT said I'll need to stay for another night.
• Right side of my face was swollen.
• I'm only allowed soft food. I had a berry smoothie for breakfast.
• I had scrambled eggs, soup, and jelly for lunch and dinner. The ENT wanted to know if I can eat normal food already.
• I was still coughing a bit.
• I won a chess match against Marco. Before the surgery, we had a match too, and he won.

• Feels good to leave the hospital. Two nights is enough.
• Medicines: paracetamol, antibiotics, ___
• I didn't eat much. I couldn't eat much. The stitches at the back of my mouth were not nice.
• I felt so much pain at night. I posted something about it on Instagram, but with a photo back from summer to disguise my post a bit / for people not to worry.
• Still coughing a bit.

• I wrote on my notebook that today was a better day. (Thank God for that.)
• I pushed myself to eat more.
• Less coughing at night.

All I wrote on my notebook was four lines from the New Wine (Hillsong) song.

Woke up a few times while sleeping. Whenever I wake up, it feels so yucky, I always feel like gargling water, and changing my clothes.

Long nap during the day

1 less paracetamol (which means less headache already, and less pain from the sutures)

I must have watched that preaching today, because I wrote on my notebook: "He sees me. He'll see me through this. He is Lord."

In all honesty, I don't think anyone would ever really understand how much pain I'm going through, except God. When I was feeling so much pain on Day 2, I was like "What now? What do I do, God?" I didn't get any answer then but hearing about the message that God sees me (and therefore was with me through the suffering) meant a lot to me.

Our new friends / neighbours popped by to give me a flower in a little pot, and chocolates. They knew I was having a hard time speaking so they didn't stay. (I realised that when my mind's busy with another thing, it somehow forgets the pain.)

I really feel bad for turning down offers from friends to visit me during the entire recovery process. But also thankful for all their understanding. There's much discomfort from the stitches, plus, I looked terrible. You could still see some dry blood on my right ear, my face was swollen, and my hair was oily (hehe I avoided washing my hair for a couple of days).

• We found out that the tumour removed was benign! Praise God!!
• Got prescribed new antibiotics. Augmentin.
• Flowers from two lovely sisters (Jamie + Pamela), they remind me of my own sisters.

First time to be out after the surgery. We shared a mince meal at a Cafe Manly.

We also went to Plant Barn, but didn't buy anything. We laughed at ourselves for coming there and not really being ready to spend. 😛

Each time I swallow and speak, it hurt. I would sometimes write to my husband to talk to him. Haha. (I can laugh about this now.)

The pain hasn't left so I got in touch with the ENT's assistant (ENT was away), and she recommended that I get urgent care so that the GP could check if there's infection or abscess in my throat.

So off I went. Marco was at work so I drove myself. It was my first time to drive in a wee bit; it felt weird.

The GP couldn't see the back of my mouth because I could open my mouth wide enough. After much discussion, he prescribed me anitobiotics, which I should only take if the pain gets worse. (I had enough antibiotics already.)

The pain was gone for an hour then it came back. Boohoo.

THE PAIN IS GONE! SO AMAZING!! So thankful to God! And I also thought of all the people who've prayed for me. Thank you, guys. xxxxxxxxxxx

It's such a good timing (I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence!) because I planned to go back to work the following day. I didn't even send a text to say I may not come back yet; I may have known or felt that I will get well!

So, so good.

Great to be back again! Working full-time again!

I told my ENT that every time I eat, the first few bites extremely hurts, and he said, "First Bite Syndrome". Apparently, there's a proper term for it! And I never thought of googling it.

It's uncertain that it'll go away, but if it doesn't, I could come back after a month or so. Botox, apparently, could help relieve the pain.