(To help forum participant read my journal, from now on, I will provide Chinese translation of certain words and phrases. Take this as an opportunity to improve your English reading.)
This was my second day (14 October 2011, Friday) in the Hobart Intensive Care Unit (ICU) 深切治疗部. What I can recall is that it was dark in the ward 病房. There is no window and the light in the room is intentionally dimmed 刻意弄得昏暗. A group of doctors stood by the bed, woke me up and told me they needed to operate on my right hand. They said I had two options: general anaesthesia (GA) 全身麻醉 or a local one. I said my preference 意愿 was a GA. They then said they were not sure if a GA would be safe for me given my neck injury. However, the operation I needed would take a few hours and a local anaesthesia 局部麻醉 might not last that long.
“Do I have a choice?” I asked
“Yes, a GA or a local anaesthesia,” they said.
They did not get my point. “Do I have a choice not to have an operation at all?”
“It has been 24 hours now. If we do not operate on you, you may lose the function of your hand.”
“Oh, um, I don’t have a choice then. Please talk to my husband.”
They needed me to sign a consent 同意书 for the operation. “I cannot move my right arm,” I said.
“Use your left hand then.”
I signed with my left hand. As my vision at that time was fairly poor, I could not see what I had written but they all said it was good enough. Then I went back to sleep. I was not aware when they took me to the operation theatre. When I woke up, I was still in the ICU but they had finished the operation. Nobody told me whether I ended up having a general or local anaesthesia. I was probably too drugged to ask afterwards.
Mark did receive a phone call from the hospital on the way when he was taking Sandy, Gilbert and Rebecca from Smithton to Hobart, a 5 hours drive one way. He thought that was a good sign that my head and neck injuries were no longer major concerns. Otherwise, they would not risk the arm operation.
In the ICU, Mark said he would inform my family and friends in Launceston about the accident. “No, I want to tell them myself,” I said. I was not talking very coherently 有条理 at that time, I think, and was sleeping or half conscious 半清醒 most of the time. I did not want my family (none of them are in Australia) to worry too much. When I feel better, I will talk to them.
What else do I remember? Yes, the nurse came every hour or so to wake me up, measuring my blood pressure, blood oxygen, pulse, shining a penlight into my eyes, asking questions such as my date of birth, how old I am, do I know where I am, what date and day it is, etc.
I also vaguely 模糊 remember I was translating Mark’s mobile number from Cantonese into English in my mind on the day of the accident. (When it comes to numbers, Cantonese is always my dominant language.) Sandy later confirmed that I told her Mark’s number after I regained consciousness. She was the first one to call Mark to deliver the bad news. Thanks Sandy.
This is what the doctors did in the operation:
 
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