NATIONAL diver Chew Yiwei could not have asked for the worst time to come down with appendicitis.

While the national diving team were sitting at home in despair due to the Movement Control Order (MCO), the 24-year-old suffered the illness last week.

A usually simple procedure turned out to be three days of anguish and pain for Yiwei as he had to undergo a Covid-19 test first before the doctors could operate on him at the Shah Alam Hospital.

That is because all surgical patients had to undergo the Covid test first to limit potential exposure to the virus.

Fortunately, the Selangor-born diver came through the tests and the surgery, and has been on the mend since yesterday.

“It was a painful few days for me after I woke up in the middle of one night in pain,” said Yiwei.

“The next day, I was still in pain, and I had no appetite to eat or drink and was vomiting everything out.

“The pandemic also made things harder as there was a protocol that required a Covid-19 test before surgery,
and I couldn’t even have my family come to the hospital to visit me.

“But I’m glad that I have gotten through it and after three days of horrible pain, I am finally recovering and hopefully I’ll be discharged tomorrow.”

The Asian Games bronze medallist couldn’t wait to be discharged as he is eager to get back to his training of keeping in shape to be ready when the sporting calendar resumes.

“I don’t know how long I need to rest and recover, but I’ll be asking permission as to when I can start exercising again,” he added.

Yiwei, who has yet to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, has his sights set on qualifying for the 3m springboard individual and the 3m springboard synchro (with Ooi Tze Liang) events.

The last qualifying event for the Olympics is the World Cup in Tokyo, although no new dates have been announced for it just yet.