Just want to say that i'm back home now and i'm just very grateful that i'm not one of the dengue fever patients though the doctors and my parents all thought so at first. I contracted infectious mononucleosis, i also have high white blood cells and a lack of oxygen in my body.Starting from my previous entry, this week has been a very humbling lesson to learn. It's easy to take good health for granted. I'll skip the mundane, depressing stuffs about my condition. I have already made J listen to EVERY SINGLE DETAIL the moment i reached home today. It is my theraputic thought-draining process, in which he is the sieve that i drain all my unhappy feelings through, and i can only feel better and get over it by rambling to his poor listening ears. So i'll just talk about the different groups of people i met during my 2 day 2 night (machem like holiday) stay in the hospital.
THE GAWKER
One of the symptoms i suffered was really bad rash all over my body and face. By the time i reached the Buona Vista Hospital, i was pretty sure nobody could recognise me with my horribly blotchy red face. I was an alien descending from Planet Freaks on Earth. At least, the people who never stopped staring at me made me feel like one. Please! Next time if you see young girls with rashes on their face, please purposefully and respectfully look away. Her rashes will not get better the longer you look at them, there are no magic digits on her face for you to buy 4D, you won't become richer, younger or smarter yada yada. SEE! You won't get anything! SO STOP STARING!
THE HOKKIEN AH MAH
I was made to lie down in this A&E ward while i had my blood test and various injections done, and next to my bed was this hokkein-speaking woman in her 60s (i think). We were separated by the bed curtain but she was so near to me. From 9pm++ to 12am, she had NEVER STOPPED TALKING. Or rather, swearing and cursing and ranting. I didn't understand most of it, she kept ranting "HONG GAO AH HONG GAO AH" or "HONG GAO CCB" (i don't need to state what is ccb right.) But her daughter was there and i heard her tell the nurse that her Mum was not very rational already and she thought that they brought her to the hospital to harm and poison her. The poor Ah Mah went on and on for more than 3 hours and the thing is, i felt strangely less lonely listening to the drama on the other side of the bed curtain.
THE TOO HONEST NURSE
When an obviously scared young girl asks if the injection is going to hurt, never reply with a small laugh and say "needles will always hurt." Seriously.
THE SEVEN NURSES
One moment, i was just lying there in my pathetic state with the cruel red lumps on my face, magnified to 100 times the ugliness under the bright lights, but at least i was safe and alone with the bed curtain pulled around me. Then the next moment, the curtain was pulled abruptly away and TADAH! Before me stood not one, not two...but SEVEN nurses and i became a FREAKIN' CASE STUDY.
Nurse: ...and so here we have this patient, she came in the morning already because of high fever and yada yada.
*seven heads and seven pairs of eyes turned towards me*
Nurse: ....it might be an allergy to the medication or part of her infection...
*seven heads and seven pairs of eyes turned towards me*
Nurse: ....we are currently doing some blood tests for her and yada yada..
*six pairs of eyes bored into me, one of them was quite enthu and she waddled over to take a closer look at my face*
THE ARROGANT YOUNG DOCTOR
I was wheeled away to my ward after that and a young doctor came to do a body checkup for me. He's not goodlooking or anything, but he has this typical AC look. I don't like him. Okay fine, i don't like his style of treating patients at least. Maybe it's the way he called my Dad, "YO DADDY" or the way he looked at me and purposefully nonchalent tone of voice he used when he said, "Now here comes the hard part. I need to look at your body." It was neither comforting or reassuring to me. Thank gosh i never saw him after that and my next doctor was a wonderful gentleman.
THE MALAY PATIENT NEXT TO ME
I really felt quite sorry for her on my 2nd night stay in the ward. She was "tidoh da boleh" (cannot sleep) the whole night and i think she has a lack of fine control over her bladder as well. Starting from 9pm, she wanted to sleep but she couldn't and till 2am, i think she has red-alerted for nurses more than 20 times. She asked to be taken to the toilet repeatedly, to be moved from the bed to the couch, from the couch back to bed, to have blankets, to have the air-con turned down, to have medicated oil rubbed on her arm and so on. She will be sighing and talking to herself about her aches the moment the nurse left and within 10 minutes, i will see the red-alert bulb at her side of the ceiling light up, which means i can soon hear hasty footsteps down the corridor again.
~~~
Resting at home this week. Having been on drip for the past 2 days, i have this urge to push this tall silver stand on rollers in front of me wherever i go.
Labels: life observations
