Always On The Run ..........: October 2008

It was almost 4.00 in the morning when the phone rang. grabbing the phone i realized that i had 3 miss call. half awake, i thought it was from the nurse in the intensive care ward, only to realized that it was from my sister. i must be fairly tired then as I've just finished a craniotomy barely 2 hours earlier (poor child who sustained multiple skull bone fracture with massive intra cranial hemorrhage when a 32 inch tv accidentally fell on her). in between her sob i heard 'baba masuk wad pukul 2 pagi tadi ....deman dan sakit perut macam dulu, dah tiga kali bagi injection ubat tahan sakit tapi tak kurang pun'. oh no , not again , i'm sure he had another attack of acute cholecystitis. yes dad had multiple gallstones and had similar attacks of acute cholecystitis before. the option of treatment was clear - surgical removal of the gallbladder. but taking into considerations of his advanced age, recent coronary artery disease, and his concurrent hypertension and diabetes, he opted for conservative treatment as the surgical risk was fairly high.

after some futile attempts to speak to the doctor in charge, i finally managed to speak to her at 5 in the morning. of course no doctor is please to be confronted at that wee hour. i didn't mean to be impolite, let alone under estimate her professional ability. when i asked her wheather she has started my dad on intravenous cephalosporin and metronidazole ... only to hear her saying ' no, your dad does not need any antibiotics, he just require pain killer and rest'. and by the way in a district hospital like this we don't have expensive intravenous antibiotics. such antibiotics requires approval from a specialist, and there is no specialist in dungun hospital. a little annoyed ... i asked her how would she treat a case of acute cholecystitis then?. her answer was plain simple ... your dad presented with acute abominal pain and I'm treating him with pain killers.

absolutely frustrated with her answer, i blankly told her ... 'look you may be a young and inexperience doctor (just short of asking where she was trained!). if you're unable or not competent enough to treat such patient, then for goodness sake refer him to a centre or a doctor who is capable enough to treat such illness. well, she was still adamant that she was giving my dad the right treatment. 8.00 sharp in the morning i rang up the surgeon on call at hospital kuala terengganu. having introduced myself and before i could finish relating my frustration with the doctor in the district hospital, he interrupted 'okay boss, I'll instruct her to transfer your dad right away under my care. btw, i don't know whether you still remember me. you were one of the clinical examiners in my post graduate exam'.

feeling rather 'uneasy', i asked ana to postponed some non urgent appointments and close my clinic after the morning session. throughout the 5 hours journey, i can't help thinking about dad, knowing that his pain threshold is extremely low. and for 3 straight nights, i was camping in primula beach hotel, the nearest hotel to the hospital. Thanks god, with proper treatment and supervision under the care of my former post graduate student, dad has shown remarkable improvement.

(view of the hospital from the hotel room)

while in KT, i also took the opportunity to met some old friends. I called ZA a week earlier telling him that i'll be in town and hope to met up over lunch or tea. well, it turn out to be a real surprise, as within such a short notice he manage to gather 10 of our closest old friends that i've not met since our lower secondary school years. we have so much to talk about .... the memories of the yesteryear were still fresh in my mind , the days when things were very easy, the days when having rm 2 in your pocket make you feel that you were very loaded. and the days when you were the envy of your friends when you rode a new chopper bicycle to school. of course i still remember the days when we were teasing and trying our best to impress the girls. and the untold secret admirers that was kept secret for 30 years. and i feel so touch that despite not seeing each other for 30 years, our friendship and sincerity remained unfazed. and to all, thank you for a wonderful and memorable evening.