Thursday, June 13, 2013

12 June 2013 - Seeing stars again

Applied for activation of utilities (water and electricity), phone-ordered from Ever-Joint the Fujioh 792 stainless steel hob and Fujioh FX900 hood, and also the 2x Mistral MSH-3 water heaters from FortyTwo.sg. Shoulders and neck were aching, and then the buzzing sound in his ears came on, and he also started to see some stars. Informed Mom and Dad that he would be heading to the hospital immediately, flagged and cab and headed to Mount Elizabeth at about 5+pm.

The 2 receptionists had black faces, not too friendly to a sick man. Passed his previous doctor's memo over to them, and was told to wait. He would soon go for his interview by a nurse who didn't really want to listen to his story, and was led to a bed to wait for the doctor on duty.

A nurse (Monique) came by to attempt to take his blood. She missed on both sides of the "elbow pits", and apologized profusely. The doctor came by and mentioned that the blood vessels had contracted due to dehydration, hence, it was difficult to hit his vein. He took over and aimed for a spot below the thumb, and boy, that was painful. The little boy at the bed beside him was screaming and vomiting, struggling to avoid the IV needle. Poor kid.

The duty-doctor did not order any IV drip even though he mentioned dehydration, and suggested to wait until they get the blood test results. Monique would return to fix up the IV needle, and again, had issues with location his veins. But this time, she got it right the first time. Again, she apologized profusely for the missed jabs.

Later, the assigned doctor, Dr Anthony, would come over and explain that his blood tests looked fine, except for a "slant" in his white blood cells. That suggested a bacterial infection, but it was too slight to be conclusive. Dr Anthony was very patient and worked hard to listen to the whole story to get the sequence of events right. Hardly meet such doctors nowadays. He was reassured that his vital signs look fine, and could be warded for observation if he would.

There were no single wards, and he had to wait for a two-bedder. It was about 3 hours since he arrived to be finally brought to his ward, bed 5913. It was by the window.

The steward requested for his meal preferences for the next day, and a staff nurse came by to get some medical background. He got dispensed some painkillers for the sore neck and shoulders, and soon got to bed. Nurses would come by at fixed times to take his vital signs, other than that, he had a good rest.

He woke up feeling relaxed the next day, the mefamanic acid really did work. Breakfast came a little earlier than advised, about 7.40am. The steward served him a spread, and upon checking the slip, he realized that he must have checked the option boxes in an incoherent manner the previous night.

Noodle soup, wholemeal bread with butter and marmalade, Milo and full cream milk, apple juice and grapefruit juice, and raisin bran. He returned the raisin bran and full cream milk. As the IV was on his right hand, he could only eat with his left. Had a slow meal, and soon he was served medication by Nathan Li, and started dozing off. Oh no, not before he took a dump and collected a sample for the healthcare team.

Woken up by a nurse to inform him that he would be relocated to another room. The reason was that it was their protocol that transfers from other hospitals should be grouped together. They led him to 5923 this time, also by the window, and he would have the whole room to himself as the other bed was yet to be occupied. Nathan would bring him a portable charger for his mobile on request, but that charger itself held no charge. He would request the other nurses (Yan Shuai and Ong) for help, but too bad, none was found.

Sometime later, he started to sweat profusely, and his cheeks also felt numb and heavy. Asked the nurses if it would be fine for him to take a quick shower to clean up. While they were checking, Dr Anthony came by a while later, and said that he was well enough to be discharged. He also mentioned that those symptoms could be just continued reactions to the allergy, and there was no need to be warded while waiting for his stool and nose swab reports.

At the cashier, he realized that his Letter of Guarantee got rejected by Great Eastern, and he had to pay out of his own pockets first. But the hospital was nice enough to admit him anyway. He as also advised that the final bill would only be mailed to him some 4-6 weeks later.

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