Arrival at Elixir de Vie

I remember waking up very early and feeling quite anxious. I am going to a foreign country alone for a surgery. Sounds mad lol!

I felt really restless but as the sun rose I felt more energetic. I had arrived at Kualanamu Airport around 9am local time (GMT +7). It is important to prepare your return ticket and (fake) hotel confirmation slip in case you need to present it to the immigration officer. For me I was only asked my purpose of coming to Indonesia and duration of my trip to which of course I replied "holiday for 3 nights". The immigration officer's pronunciation was quite difficult to catch and I had to ask him to repeat. Thankfully he didn't give me a hard time.

I forgot to buy waterproof plasters so I bought them at the airport pharmacy. Elixir de Vie offers airport transfer for S$22 per trip, but I chose to take the train as I get motion sickness very easily and I read that the traffic in Indonesia can be very bad. The train ticket costs S$5 per trip after the 50% discount as part of a promo which the railink had.

Kualanamu train station is just right outside the airport. However don't choose a train that departs too soon from your arrival time as the queue at immigration can move quite slowly and you may need to undergo enhanced bag inspection at the customs.

The train schedule is fixed everyday and it departed pretty on time! The train is very clean albeit a bit too cold especially when it's not crowded. Air-cond was set to 21-22c! It was a 47-minute journey from Kualanamu to Medan station.

Free transfer was provided from Medan train station to the clinic. The driver greeted me at the station. The drive from the station to clinic was about 10-15mins. There were a lot of cars and A LOT OF HONKING. Lol!

Elixir de Vie clinic is a three storey bungalow. It is very clean and neat. The doctor has 1 nurse and 2 assistants. The doctor and his 2 assistants live in the same house so rest assured that you will be taken care of after your surgery.

Upon arrival, I filled up the registration form and signed the consent form for photographic and videographic documentation. She also showed me a food menu from which I have to order my lunch and dinner. The menu is from an Indo-chinese restaurant which to be frank, did not appeal to me. (I'm fussy!). The average price per meal is S$4.00-5.00.

Subsequently one of the assistants showed me the way to my room which came with an ensuite bathroom. I was asked to shower, wear the hospital gown and eat before the pre-operative consultation. In anticipation that I won't be bathing for the next couple of days, I showered with Dettol.

At about 1pm was the pre-operative consultation. Dr Arthur explained the liposuction process, the method he uses, complications of liposuction and how he minimises the risks. If you haven't already known, Dr Arthur is probably one of the last few (if not the last?) doctors who uses the traditional syringe method while other surgeons perform liposuction with machines, eg, Vaser lipo. Although syringe method is very time and energy-consuming, it is the safest as it is entirely controlled by the surgeon himself. The cannula used is also very small and blunt compared to the cannula used in machine-assisted lipo. Machines are too powerful, too traumatising and dangerous in that they may cause oversuctioning, irregularity, burns, or even death if the cannula penetrates through your muscles and into your vital organs. Dr Arthur also performs liposuction only under local anesthesia and where necessary, a little bit of sedation. In other places, it is a general practice or even a legal requirement that the patient be put under general anesthesia. When one is under GA, you are completely unresponsive. This means that in the unlikely and unfortunate event that the cannula pokes your muscles, you wouldn't feel anything. The doctor also cannot move you around during the procedure as it may cause dislodging or dislocation of the breathing tube, in which event, you may die. This also means that the surgeon can only do 2D liposuction for you - just your front tummy, not the sides and the back. Unlike GA, LA enables you to be awake and aware of what is going on, albeit slightly drowsy but conscious enough to know if you're being poked at the wrong places. The doctor can also move your body slightly to enable a 3D liposuction and really sculpt you from every angle.

An invoice was rendered after the consultation. My total bill including accommodation and medication was S$12,353. Medication was slightly less than S$200. I made payment via bank transfer and the transaction turned out to be very smooth!

I will be elaborating on my surgery in the next post..