Kong Hee Media

Sun was finally discharged from Cedars-Sinai Hospital on March 26 (Thur) after staying there for 16 days. She has lost a lot of weight and is still rather weak. As of now, she can only take soft diet that is high in protein, and low in carbohydrates and fiber. This is because the ability of her intestines to digest food is not fully restored. The hospital has assigned a very capable nutritionist to advise her on her diet.

On her first night back home, Sun took some tofu for dinner. An hour after dinner, she felt nauseous and her stomach started to bloat. Dr. Philips has instructed the team that if Sun faints, vomits or has severe diarrhea, she is to be readmitted to the ER immediately. Thankfully, she slept through the night without any incident. The next morning, the nutritionist visited her at home and said that tofu, and all soy products, should be avoided after a major abdominal operation. Soy is simply too “tough” for her recovering intestines to digest. She then wrote out a strict diet regiment for Sun to follow. In the US, there is surprisingly, a high regard for traditional Chinese medicine and herbs, which most Americans believe are the best supplements during the post-op rehabilitative period. Sun will be eased into such herbal treatment soon.

Today is the third day of her hospital discharge. Sun has been resting, reading, listening to music, praying, etc. Every couple of hours, she needs to take short walks around the house to ensure that there is no further complication in her bowels, and to stimulate the gas in them to pass out. She wakes up every morning at about 6 a.m. and by 6 p.m. in the evening, she gets very tired. She looks like she has lost 10 kg in the past three weeks.

Sun is scheduled to see her doctors again next week to ascertain if there are new adhesions re-formed in her intestines. One concern is the persistent pain and swelling in her lower abdomen. We are hoping that this is not a sign of further kinks and twisting of her bowels again. That may mean another surgery and stay at the hospital.

Kevin Loo of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) was so kind to allow me to postpone a trip from this weekend to May, so that I could fly back to LA to attend to Sun. I need to be with her as these few days are very important. The doctors need to see that her intestines have fallen into place nicely and no further adhesion is formed.

One thing is for sure: the recovery process is going to be long, but Sun is very determined to get well. She is and always has been a gritty fighter.