Wisdom Tooth Extraction Singapore (Tips and What to expect)

Just got my wisdom tooth operation done near to half a month back at Khoo Teck Phuat and I thought I shall just blog about my experience so friends who are considering or about to go through the same experience as me can know roughly what to expect!

Before Operation Day 

 I had 4 wisdom tooth removed and 2 other extra teeth in front (1 grew behind my original tooth, and 1 is buried under my front tooth) all at one go. For that to happen, I had to go through general anesthesia so feasting 8 hours before operation time was required. I actually rescheduled my operation twice because I caught a flu the day before on the first appointment, and got chased back home on the second appointment because the anesthetist said that I can't go on with the operation when I still have phlegm. 

Tip: As much as it can be tempting to have all the food you want because you can no longer do it for probably the next 2 weeks after operation. PLEASE DON'T. 

I did that the first round and it was so torturous when I had to feast and I feel sick. So I would recommend you to start getting use to not taking in water after 12 midnight so it won't be too uncomfortable for you on the day of operation. 

During Operation Day

I think I am lucky that all the 2 times I went I got a staff with really good service for registration. So the registration staff checked with me about my Medisave and then lead me in to meet the staff nurse that is in charge of my surgery. 

The member involved to my memory are several staff nurses, the dentist, senior operation staff nurse and 3 anesthetist in the operation room. They will first get you to change into a robe and put on something like a shower cap. If you have drug allergy, you get a red one. Then they will start asking you for your name and why are you there for. The different group of member will take turns to come and ask you the same damn question which I think was pretty annoying, cause I swear I said the same thing more than 4 times. 

Tip: Just be prepared that they bombard you with 3 standard questions: 

What is your name and NRIC number? 

Why are you here for today? 

What are your drug allergies? 

*At least I see several people after me getting that as well LOL*

After the nurses made sure you are who you are, and that you know what shit you are getting yourself into, the dentist will get you in a room and tell you again what you will expect during and after the operation and the risks involved. Nothing new because they would have have told you when you had your review way before the operation day. 

Then you will meet your anesthetist and they ask you the same questions again and tells you about the procedure to expect and the possible side effect. Some side effects not written on the list of risk they gave me are things like, having dry blood in the nose if they have difficulty inserting the tube, or sore throat if they fail to insert a tube through my nose and had to put it through my throat and coarse voice. After telling you what to expect, I saw the thing I was most scared of. That damn iv line. 

Tip: Don't be too nervous. Choose to lie down over sitting up. If your veins collapse while the anesthetist inserts the iv line. She will take it out and poke again. It sucks. I had to do it 3 times, so I know. HAHA.

 

After they get the iv line in, I was ask to lie there and wait for my doom time to come. 

HAHA. Kidding la. I was just lying down gossiping with my mum and scrolling my phone, taking useless snaps on snapchat lol for about 20 minutes before I was called in. 

When I get into the operation room, I see my x-ray projected on the screen, like a super big one and also my throne and all the equipment. So I lie down and the anesthetist put something in my iv line and okay, it hurts and I still don't know what it is cause I did not sleep right after so I guess is not the anesthesia? They also stick the things on you to track your heartbeat and stuff. So after that one gush of pain, the anesthetist put this oxygen mask over me and I just breathe normally. After breathing like a minute or two of it, the second anesthetist then inform me that he will be putting the anesthesia in and I my feel something warm or a bit of pain. Okay. I felt nothing HAHA. 

After surgery 

The next thing I know was nurses calling my name and tada, I am on the recovery ward lo!

I had a moment of confusion on if I even consciously went in to the operation room which my memory came back after a few minutes of recalling. So no big drama that I thought on the confusion, like if i would remember my name etc. The nurses will just check on you if you feel any sharp pain and I feel super drowsy. But the nurses was talking so loud that I can't sleep again so yea. I stayed awake hearing all their gossips till I get back to my ward. 

Conclusion: General anesthesia is good! I felt no pain throughout and I don't have to go through all those torturous drilling shit and seeing what they do but not feeling it. I just have my best sleep and continue being able to have a good sleep every now and then for the day HAHA. So if you are worried like I was, don't be! 

Before I was able to leave the hospital, they checked with me if I had any sharp pain and also gave me one painkiller and bite on the gauze for about an hour plus. They then gave me some apple juice and water and i swear it was damn hard to drink because I felt like my lips was swelling like sausages but it is not HAHA. Its just because of the anesthesia that did not wear off yet.

Discovery: I read a lot online that we cannot suck on the straw after the operation and I was quite stunned when the nurse gave me a straw to suck the apple juice. After checking with the nurse, they said that only some patient that have special cases like the place connecting from the mouth to nose is empty cannot suck on straw as the drink will come out from the nose. So I can't be sure if the dry socket thing really applies these days but I was recovering well though i drank from straw 1 hour after operation so I guess its okay? 

For the rest of the day, I had 1 yogurt and soya bean milk. No pain felt probably thanks to the local anesthesia that remains. Continue taking my painkillers as instructed and finished my antibiotics though it gave me quite some rash, but continued with it since it wasn't that serious.

This was roughly all for my day of surgery removing 4 wisdom tooth and 2 extra tooth at the front! I think I was over paranoid before the operation and it really isn't as scary as I thought it was. Am thankful for the nurses and hope that this read can clear some doubt for locals who are about to go for wisdom tooth operation since most information I manage to get last time are more from other countries.

Will blog about my food diet and the recovery of my wisdom tooth and the level of pain to expect on the subsequent days soon. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any things you wanna know about the operation and I will be more than glad to share my experience with you! 

Networking for the Opinionated and Direct Individuals

'Your network is your net worth'

This is a cliche saying that many will find it familiar and relatable to. 

Despite knowing the importance and benefits of networking, I am never a fan of networking. Technically, I HATE networking.
Networking event to me is as simple as going to a gathering filled with fake ass people who never fail to put on that smile, shakes your hand and nods their head like they have never been any less interested in you, sugarcoat their words and just 'be nice' or just as nice as they can portray themselves to be (sorry to maybe the 20% of the people who are genuinely nice for assuming this).

Everyone who knows me would have know that I am direct, opinionated and really frank (Like REALLY FRANK). I totally couldn't picture myself in such an event, having to hold back my thoughts on how mismatched someone's outfit is, to agree on perception and beliefs in life that I really feel is wrong, and still BE NICE. Like OMG, how to be nice when everything of that person just sucks (to put it literally).

If you are like me, who hates networking, because it is just not in you to be nice about things that is inverse of your beliefs and perception of life. I would like to share about some facts and tips that I learnt from my Startup Academy master program today, that may help you look at networking in a different light like I did.

Here goes:

Everyone has their own strength.
 Being opinionated, honest and straightforward are no doubt strengths of any individual since you can deliver your beliefs strongly across and attract the right crowd into your social circle. But it also seem to be the biggest barrier in networking since it is obvious that there is no way to build a good rapport with the other party in a networking session if you just throw a solid hard stone in his/her face telling her that she sucks, or her mentality sucks, like as though she has lived half of the life the wrong way, just because she don't live a life that you THINK is right.

The greatest and hardest lesson I feel honest, direct and opinionated people who face the same issue as me need to learn is that just because things isn't done in the way we think is right don't make them wrong.

End of the day, everyone has their rule of survival that they live by, and in Chinese, we call it 生存法则. Food for thought is probably that if they are still alive now, talking to you, generally means that their rule of survival worked. Regardless how much you can't believe that it did, it still did. Henceforth, there is no need for you to throw a solid hard stone in their face to let them know that you don't agree to what they believe in or living by.

This does not mean that you do not deliver your belief across just because you know that it is different from the other party. In fact, the tip I learnt today's Startup Academy program is to avoid using 'But' and 'no' in the sentence during a conversation which can increase the chances of the other party being more receptive to your opinion.

DISCLAIMER: Facts are not real. Just an example.

Example of a conversation with 'but' and 'no': 

A: I like oranges because they are sweet and full of vitamin C. So it is really good for health.

B: NOOO. You know uh, oranges are actually very sour one. 

C: Oranges are full of viatmin C, but, it is also filled with sugar lei. So it is good for health in a way but also not very good la. 

If the conversation have no 'but' and 'no': 

A: I like oranges because they are sweet and full of vitamin C. So it is really good for health.

B: Oh ya, oranges can be sweet and I am just in the luck where I always get sour ones so I don't really prefer oranges. 

C: Oranges can be filled with Vitamin C and it also comes along with quite some sugar, so if you have diabetes, you probably can consider xxx instead. 

You will probably see a significant difference in the tonality (hopefully my example is relatable enough) for the same context by just removing 'No' and replacing 'but' with 'and' in a sentence when you try to get your different viewpoint/belief across. In this way, you are still being honest with your thoughts but in a more refine manner where the other party is more likely to accept your idea as well!

Regardless how hard we try to have everyone to agree to our viewpoint/idea/philosophy, it will never happen. And it is absolutely cool to have different viewpoint and it doesn't kill to know more perspective of life since there is not really a right or wrong. 
And so, it doesn't mean we have to be nice but not showing our disagreement but we can definitely do it in a less hostile way which can allow us to better carry our point across as well than to sound offensive and build a bad rapport with people.

End of the day, what you ultimately want to achieve in a networking session is attracting the right group of people into your life. And so, the most important factor is to be genuine and just be you (in a socially smart version) and so you can attract like-minded individual into your circle of life whom can understand you and provide help in the most beneficial manner for you!

-猪安娜/Jenna
Credits: Startup Academy 

Disclaimer: This is a essay contains my personal insights and 

understanding which Startup Academy is not liable for. 

永远达不到的‘满分‘

步入20岁快一个月了，总觉得今年的自己有那么一点的不一样。

是长大了吗，还是经历过太多的失望，而开始体会绝望。 

总觉得自己开始学会了以自我为中心了，

是因为我已经厌倦了替别人着想的生活方式，

还是因为我明白了，

放下自己，全心全意的为别人付出，换来的只有背叛.
留下的只有遍体遍体凌伤的自己。
还是因为我明白了，
人永远都不会知足，给予的永远不够，像永远填不满的黑洞一样。
但人真的会去回想你一路来给予了多少吗？
还是只会因为少给了他一片饼干（好处）而耿耿于怀。

我想我学会了，其实没有所谓的把自己的100%拿出来。
因为100%的定义太广了。100%的定义也会随着个人欲望，奢求和贪婪而不断增加。
谁说100%就永远是100分。
6岁的时候，我们的考试，满分是10分。
8岁的时候，我们的考试，满分是50分。
10 岁的时候，我们的考试，满分是100分。

这和人与人之间的期望和要求是一样的，
刚开始，对方只要求10分，
你能满足他前10个要求，为他改变，为他付出，努力的达到他的‘满分’。
但你最终将会发现，每一次你在心里暗自高兴的喝彩你得到了他指定‘满分’，
‘满分’的定义好像又变了。
怎么他好像没注意到我已经为他改变了呢？
怎么他好像还是不开心呢？
怎么他和我说，其实他还有不满意的方面呢？

就这样，发现了，每个人得到你的好，就很自然的想要更好的。
人往往不会记得你达到的每一分，
只注意你没拿到的那些分，那永远达不到‘满分’。

-猪安娜

希望你不会有达不到的满分

找个会为你没拿到零分而开心的人

而不是因为你没拿到满分而生气的人

Blessed 20th Birthday (Carousel)

Continuing where I left off, my next birthday dinner is at Carousel on my actual birthday with Chin Yue. Before the dinner begins, it was a eventful morning as well since I get to go into Domino pizza kitchen with my playgroup kids and get to make my own pizza! Though it is not made by myself from scratch, am still thankful to see how they make their pizza and how they coordinate as a team to make sure they can deliver the pizzas to us on time. 

In the late noon, before we head down to carousel was time to cut my birthday cake with Pam, Jos, and CY. Prettiest cake of my life since I ever start to choose my own cake for birthday by MissGoob and I am so loving the design! The minion is like so adorable with the super tiny strands of hair with its short leg and hands. Of course, good quality red velvet in the inside. 

Happy girl from having a minion cake and the companionship of my girlfriend, head down to far east since we had time and Carousel is just beside it. Been long since I had time to take a walk in Far East and it always feel so good to have a break from work. 

Entered Carousel at 6.30 and love how they have a utensil rack to rest our utensils neatly. 

They have a vast variety of food like most international buffet does and the food quality is good too! Comparing Carousel to other international buffet, I would say it is a little overrated for the price as it is almost similar to most of the other international buffet at equivalent or even lower price. Service of the staff are good though their uniform is really a little mismatched to the environment to me. 

So here are some photo of the food that you can expect to find at Carousel: 

The best surprise I had from Carousel is not the food but the fact that they actually have house cake for diners who have birthday on the day which definitely not much international buffet restaurants provides! Thanks CY for the effort to make a trip down to Antoinette to get their best selling cake and making my experience here even more unique. Of course, thanks for the bouquet of sunflower that you took much effort to make sure it isn't bigger than the ones my mum gave me. The roses in between the sunflower are really pretty too! 

Ended my day perfectly upon receiving a new ted from JG that is 2x bigger than my original one. YAY. Jumped with joy when I opened the box and can't stop hugging it since then. Sorry that I am unable to be home to receive the gift from you and thank you in person since I did not know you're coming. Still, thank you for making a trip down specially with the super big box and giving me my own space and time to celebrate my birthday in my own way without expecting much from me yet giving so much! 

Good end to my 19th and good start to my 20s all thanks to people who made this day so awesome! Especially CY who spend some much time and money travelling around to make sure all my gifts are in place so that there are no hiccups throughout the day! I forgive you for being 10 minutes late that day HAHA (technically I was 10 minutes early). Really appreciate everything that you have planned and the day is perfect. Thanks Pam for specially making a trip down just to help me take photos and I did not even had one with you (sorry lol). 

Blessed 20th Birthday (Genki Sushi, Lady M Crepe cake)

This post is so late cause my birthday is like 5 days back already. Still, I believe it is never too late to thank everyone who has made my birthday memorable and meaningful! 

Getting really forgetful these days and so no matter how late my post can be, it is so important for me to record down every important event like this. 

Genki Sushi with Ivan and Jia Han (with recommendation from pheebs) 

Virgin trip down to Genki Sushi Orchard Central with this 'two' guys to celebrate my birthday and I was really so amazed by the train here! Especially this animal one below cause it is like so cute OMG. Food here was awesome too and the food came pretty quickly after we placed our order through the Ipad provided. 

Some food that I would recommend you to order if you come here is their chawamushi, which is rich in ingredient and in taste but definitely not too salty. I personally also find all their seared sushi (salmon & shrimp - cause I only had this two) with any topping/sauce is really good! Not forgetting their fattiest tuna sushi which is like $3.90 for one (thanks guise for letting me order), but it has really a lot of fatty oil in it and is really tender. (though my taste bud got problem, I keep thinking its no difference from salmon, but the guys say its different, so majority wins) 

Pricing wise, each plate of sushi is priced at around $2.90 to $4.90. I am lucky enough to get a treat to this sushi place and not having to worry about the bill or I personally will find it a little pricey. 

Their sashimi, seared salmon with black pepper, fattiest tuna 

With the good planner Jia Han, of course he did not forget about including cake for my birthday! So we went down to Lady M to have our cake but sadly there was a long queue before we can get a seat and I was just too lazy to queue (as usual) since we still have to work the next day (just an excuse HAHA). Decided to get some cake as takeaway instead cause I saw the crepe cake that my mum likes a lot in Malacca. Got all the three flavors available there. green tea, original and chocolate. 

Here is us. For once, a photo of me with no make up. 

Each slice of cake is around $8+ but I would say it is definitely worth the price! Comparing to the thousand layer cake that looks like this From Nadeje in Malacca, I think their green tea is the only one flavour that wins Nadeje since it is the only flavour that Nadeje did not have. LOL. Their chocolate is about the same standard while I still find the original flavour cake in Nadeje better than this since it has a nice caramel layer in between every layer. Unlike this which only has one layer of that at the top. 

Original Crepe cake 

Green tea Crepe cake 

Chocolate crepe cake 

 That was roughly the day we had minus all the unglam things I did and stupid comments I made throughout the few hours. Am more than thankful to know you guys in IT fair after working together for 1.5 years and to even be honored enough to get a treat from your for my birthday. (Sorry Ivan, no birthday present for you) Also, thanks Pheebs for providing them with advice on where to bring me for my birthday though you are in Canada and I really had fun (WITHOUT U HUEHUE, jk). But seriously, just because I always buy chawamushi, and eat Ajisen dont mean I like jap food kays. XD

BBQ Bday celebration with City Satay review

 Decided to book a pit one week before my birthday since I have to work the following day and couldn't get a chalet. There was a thunderstorm in the noon but thankfully it stopped after a while. YAY. So we got quite a lot of food and drinks with the contribution of everyone and we are all ready to get fat! Didn't have a photo of all the food but here is what was on the pit at one point in time. 

The one rare moment that I am actually doing something LOL 

Best companionship from these peeps

Photo with my mum while the guise start the fire

Didn't really took a photo of all the food we had cause it was all covered and I was too lazy to uncover them (as usual) and so here is what was on our pit at one point in time. Prepared the mushroom and tofu ourselves the day before thanks to CY for staying late to help, while the satay, wing and stingray (in aluminium foil) is from City Satay! 

There is only a few reviews on them when we googled it but I will say they provide really good satay and seafood! We ordered 50 sticks of raw chicken and pork each, 3 sambal stingrays (500g) - comes in a bag of 2 separately packaged foil (that means we had 6 packet of stingray technically), and 20 pieces of BBQ wing for both honey and BBQ flavored wings. Had 5 pcs of baby octopus too! 

The delivery of City Satay was prompt, though I had a funny encounter of them saying they have arrived and waited for 30 minutes with no call from them but only a sms, and so they left and will come back an hour later. Which I was thinking like what era is this to not call the recipient upon arrival and wait there for 30 minutes? But oh well, either way, our food arrived at 4.45 pm and the delivery man was friendly! Our order email was promptly handled to with really good follow up. 

Food quality wise, City Satay gives really juicy and tender satay. Especially their pork satay because they never forget to put in one piece of pork belly fats in the middle of the satay. Chicken wing was well marinated and their sambal stingray meat was tender. If you are a sambal lover, they really give holy sambal that is spicy enough and they are not stingy in the sambal amount at all! 

Spent around $87 plus on the food plus $5 for a big Styrofoam box which I would say in overall is pretty worth it. I seriously love their satay and stingray and their food totally complete my BBQ set! 

Some food (it is really like 10% of our food) 

After all the eating, me and CY went on for a short stroll in search of the ATM which was really quite far away. Took some shots on the way to practice his photography skill which He had quite a bit of scolding for because I can't stop asking for a retake. (Sigh, problems of going out with a non-photogenic but die hard want take photo person meh) 

Of course, birthday celebration can never forget about our birthday cake! 

As usual, it is one from Chocolate origin cause it have been listed as our default cake place after trying it once since it is so good! 

And that marks the end of my BBQ day and pleasant experience with City Satay and East Coast Park. Am thankful for all my friends and family who made this day so special and meaningful after spending hundreds of dollars and lots of effort to carry the things down and keep the fire going! A good and meaningful first start to my first 2's ! More post on my birthday dinners to come when I have time to load everything up.