On the Living Textbook

We're told to go to the wards as often as possible. We're supposed to learn from our patients. They're our textbooks, and we would never learn enough from anybody.

But one thing the textbooks didn't teach us in terms of management, was how to present ourselves in front of these living textbooks. Especially when they told us they're in this situation where we couldn't really help much.

She came in for a hip replacement. Long list of medical history; systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), anti phospholipid syndrome, scleroderma, deep vein thrombosis and osteoarthritis of the hip. They're not exactly individual diseases, more of interconnected in some way. The anti-phospholipid syndrome was secondary to SLE, where it manifest as deep vein thrombosis; and SLE's treatment leads to osteoarthritis.

But that aside, it was a bit sad when we asked about her social history.

She lives with her aging mother. Her 2 sisters didn't care about them. They stay in a government flat in Pudu area. And she's not working, due to all those sicknesses she has.

Our eyes wide open, "Then what do you live on?"

"Social worker's help. They pay us 300 per month."

"But that's not gonna be enough!"

"Me 300, my mum 300. So we have 600 from them every month. Plus Tzu-Chih give us 200 per month. So 800, can live la..."

Then she added, "It's enough for normal people like you all. But for us a bit difficult. Medications already cost quite a lot."

So we came out from the ward wondering, both she and her mother lives on 800 a month. They don't even have enough to get a meal of KFC if they need to make some spares for the bills, transportation fee and daily ration... And yet... I dine out almost everyday.

Guilty....