Ellis finally gets his Nose Job - Sept 2016

It's fun to say he got a nose job, which is technically true, but it's probably better to say he had his deviated septum repaired.

The doctor said one nostril was 99% closed. He was about to be a changed man.

Of course, we chose the doctor who was in the New Territories, - a bus, a train, and a shuttle ride away. 

Before the knife.

Outside the surgery theatre. 

That cabinet has a sign that reads, Grown. These things keep us intellectuals entertained.

And, he's back. Poor baby.  He was put in a room with four other men who were unusually quiet until their kind relatives started bringing food at 6pm. Of course, people obey rules here, so they were out when visiting hours were over (as was I) and Ellis was able to rest. 

Because I am writing about this seven months after the fact, I have no idea who brought these goodies for Ellis, but someone knew he would not be fed in the hospital. His youth leader from church brought CaliMex on the night of the surgery, praise the Lord, or we would have starved.

We, of course, had no idea there would be no hospital food until we sat in hunger for several hours without the sighting of a food tray.

On the morning he was to be discharged a person pushing a wheelchair came to Ellis' "space" in the shared room and said something in Cantonese. We both looked confused and she spoke in Cantonese again. 

The doctor had not seen him so I didn't think this was the "exit-the-building" nurse, but I had no idea. 

She said something again, and then a voice from behind one of the other curtains (one of Ellis' roommates), translated her words, "You need to see the doctor and she will take you." No more words from him or her, so we just got Ellis into the wheelchair and off we went.  

 And, back the way we came.

The nose-job story doesn't end here on the train deck. I brought him home from the hospital 24 hours after the surgery. The doctor told him he could be back in school in a couple of days, but he needed to be off from PE for two weeks. Easy. We relayed this information to the school AND to Ellis before the surgery took place.

But, within 48 hours of the surgery he said he felt good and he thought he could go to school. What kid ignores the doctor's orders of staying out of school? What mother ignores the doctor's orders?

Yes, we let him go to school. And, yes, he goes to the gym for his photography class (but not PE) and gets beamed in the face with a basketball. BLOOD, BLOOD, BLOOD. Really Ellis?

I asked what happened, and he said he asked someone to throw the ball to him because they were doing a project for photography (flying objects, apparently).  Again, really? 48 hours after surgery on the center of your face?

Then, I asked, "who threw the ball?" I didn't really care, but he said,"I'd rather not say." Still don't know.

When Jeff got home, I made him call the doctor and tell him. Thankfully, we didn't have to haul him back to the New Territories before the mandatory two week post-op visit. And, thankfully, the two week post-op was a positive visit. I do believe the ball incident was the reason Ellis followed the other doctor's orders (rinsing with saline four times per day) so diligently. Guilt works.