On the Fake Teeth...

When a person grows old, 'wear and tear' is inevitable. It's kinda frustrating that you wake up one day and you couldn't do things you used to do. You ran for a bit and you start to worry you'd fall down. You saw that the fan was dirty and you wanted to clean it, but you were too scared that the ladder were not stable enough.

And of course, you see your favorite chop, yet you couldn't have it anymore...

Sigh.

Life is so sad...

On the Baby on the Gate

There was the rumor of this baby in the ward, sent in by the police. New born. Found inside a plastic bag hanged at the fence of a bungalow. Inside the plastic bag, there was a bottle of baby oil and 2 pieces of baby clothing, and a bottle of milk. Not sure what milk was that. But the baby looked fine when we saw him in the ward. The doctors said the baby was healthy too, and could be discharged in 2 days.

So a friend asked the doctor, "Where will the baby be sent to?"

Doctor, "The social welfare department." Coldly.

Poor baby. Poor poor baby. We all felt pity for him.

Doctor, "Or you can take him home."

We only managed to smile.


ps: Picture not related to the story.

On the Mushy Puppies

Was in Borders one day. Saw a pair of lovers a few couches away. Not more than 25 I could tell. Guy's got unkempt hair, as though he just woke up. Girl's pretty. Both of them sat on the same couch. Guy leaned back, girl sat on the edge with her legs crossed. Both of them reading some magazines.

A few minutes later, the guy pressed his cheek on the girl's cheek. The girl shied away.

Another few minutes later, the girl swept her finger across the guy's lips.

Then the guy put his hands around the girl, hugging her while she continued to read the magazine.

Then the girl twirled the guy's hair. And the guy sniffed down her throat.

And for a moment, I thought he was gonna give her a French kiss there and then! But nope, luckily he didn't.

For Christ's sake, get a room! Public display of affection can be quite disturbing sometimes.

On the Screaming Chap

There was a young guy coming to the fracture room one night. Alleged motor vehicle accident. Suffered some cuts on the forehead and the webbed space between his big toe and 2nd toe, as well as some abrasions on his knee and elbow. Otherwise, he was doing quite well, alert and responsive, not in any distress and was still able to walk, albeit with some painful gaits.

So when the surgeon on-call tried to stitch back the wound, he started shouting. We waited for a while for the analgesia to take effect. A few minutes later, when the needle poke through the skin, he started shouting again.

"Painful? We already gave you pain killer, you're not supposed to feel any pain."

"Not pain, but I feel something is there."

"Of course you'll feel something, but it's not painful right?"

"No, not pain."

But he continued to shout and was begging for the surgeon to stop.

So after much effort and coaxing of the shouting patient, the wound was finally stitched.

With much sarcasm, the medical assistant made a remark, this was just one tenth of the pain your mum has to suffer when she delivered you.

The young chap then said, "Really? Then this is not so painful after all?"

"Of course not! God knows why you had to shout until the next room also can hear your screaming."

On the Small Breast

Walked passed the radiology department one evening after on-call. It was about 6-ish then when I saw a radiographer walked into the mammograph waiting room.

"XXX. Your lump so small! Why you wanna do a scan?" I heard him shouting...

As I walked passed the door, he was actually shouting at an old lady! I saw the lady trying to explain, perhaps she just wanted to make sure it wasn't some breast cancer or anything.

But that being said, it still annoyed me much that he was actually shouting at a patient...

On ye' Fixed Arm

14 years old Chinese boy, presented with pain in a closed fracture of the forearm due to fight with a fellow friend in a Boys' Home. He said he was on the floor with his arms wide stretched when the other guy jumped on his knee onto his forearm and causes the radius to fracture and displace dorsally. Pain was persistent, patient was not able to move all his fingers. Otherwise, there was no fever, vomiting or chest pain.

Poor fella here, apparently told his carer another different version. He fell down into a drain with his arms wide-stretched and fractured his forearm.

Reasons behind the fight: He wrote a love letter for a coupled girl.

Reasons behind the alternative story: Both the boys were staying together.

Immature they may be, but they still have some good sides in themselves.

Patient was then put under analgesia, and manual reduction was done before the fractured arm was covered up and plastered.

On the Medications that Kill

This is one of the stories we heard from our morning rounds, about how housemen, a.k.a. the intern / the training doctor / freshly graduated medical students; kill a patient using anti-hypertensive drugs, a.k.a. medications which are commonly used to treat high blood pressure.

Apparently, there was this young doctor who was over-worked, wrote a prescription in the ward for a patient who was noted to have high blood pressure. The patient was started on Atenolol, a type of beta blockers used to control high blood pressure.

So, the prescription soon reached the pharmacy. The pharmacist called to confirm the dosage. Apparently, the dosage seemed to be too much for a person, but the houseman was either too tired or that the line was bad, he only made out the quantity, but not the units. So he just agreed to the query.

Before anyone realized, the patient was given that whole loads of Atenolol, ten pills at one go.

The patient's heart tremendously slowed down. Despite all the ante-dotes, the doctors failed to bring the patient back to life.

Houseman was subsequently subjected to disciplinary action, and had to answer to the hospital director and ministry of health or some sort.

But then again, I wonder, how could the pharmacist not know what's the maximum dosage a patient should be getting, knowing that it's pretty impossible to give the patient 10 pills at one go?

Or should we question the fact that we are overworked?

On the Outpatient Visit

It was a sunny morning. Our class were to be held outside of the campus. While waiting for the other colleagues to arrive, I sat by the bench in front of the outpatient clinic, watching the people coming into the hospital.

Suddenly, I heard a lady's shouting.

"Aiyooo!!! I don't have money lah! I didn't bring my phone! If you wanna go, then go lah; if you don't want to go then go home! Why wanna bother so many people?"

She was shouting at an elderly gentleman, who was walking with a walking stick. I saw the gentleman mumbled something, couldn't make out what he said from where I sat.

"Aiyoo. Go back la go back la! Take bus and go back lah. How much money you have? Aiya, that's enough la."

And her shouting continued while she was asking for the price of a taxi to Mid Valley.

Then, there was another scene. A middle age lady, smiling, and pointed to the direction of the tunnel leading to the wards or the specialist clinic. She was trying to hold another elder lady's hand, assuming that's her mother. But her mother just pulled her hands away, insistent that she could walk alone. But middle age lady was still smiling, and said, "Come la, what's there to be shy of? Come come." And they walked slowly towards the tunnel.

As they walked away, there was an old man walking to where I was sitting. My gaze followed. He has trembling hands, like that of a Parkinson's, but didn't quite have most of the other observable features. He stopped in front of another elder lady, asking if the seat beside her is taken. Assuming that's his wife. But just one second after he sat down, another middle aged lady approached them, smiling.

"You can walk or not? Just a flight of stairs only, then we reach the elevator already."

She was pointing towards the trauma and emergency building, whereby the carparks were located on top of the building.

The two elderly couple agreed and the three of them walked slowly towards the staircase.

Then I noticed one thing. And I realized another. All over the hospital, I realize there's no staircase along the main walkway. When access to another floor is concerned, there would be elevator or some ramps. Life for the wheelchair-bound patients are easier that way.

On the Light at the End of the Tunnel

"I got stomach pain. Talk to me. Where are you pushing me to? Who are you? I got pain here. And down there. Pain in my head. I got pain. Where you pushing me to? I just want to die. But I don't want pain. Can you do anything to help me relieve the pain? Talk to me."

Old lady were talking in Hokkien.

On Life Drama

The lady pushed a trolley towards the entrance of the dialysis centre before she stopped her steps and asked the old man in the wheelchair, "Dad, is it here?"

The old man muttered something.

The lady positioned the old man at the side alongside some of the couch and headed into the dialysis centre by herself.

The old man just sat there looking blankly at the window at the far end of the lobby.

10 minutes later, the lady came out. And told her father that she's got the number, and he was required to go for another check up before dialysis. So she pushed her father through the sensor-automated glass door.

Inside the examination room, the doctor noted that the old man's cholesterol levels are high.

The lady was curious. "But why? He only eats oat everyday, with the nephro milk. Why got high cholesterol?"



Dialysis ward, 9th floor UMMC.