2 days ago I had a little adventure. It started like this:
You guys prolly know i terpengsan after gym a few days ago right?I was thinking of monitoring my condition a few days before deciding whether or not to go for a checkup. And then on Thursday evening, 6pm, I suddenly got heart palpitations and clammy hands at college.So I decided to skip Flash class and go home.Later on i persuaded my parents to take me to the doctor the same day because i really wasn't feeling well.First we went to a GP in Subang just for a general checkup.Then the doc there found out that I had high blood pressure(hahah...exactly the opposite of what I thought)and a fever.The reading was 140/70(normal is 100/80.He was asking whether or not any of my parents have high blood pressure because it could be hereditary.My dad has it,so I was getting a bit worried.High blood pressure is generally not a disease for people our age,but in the newspaper just that morning there was a report of a 12 year old boy dying of heart attack,the first in our country.So the doc referred us to SJMC for another checkup.
Next,at SJMC,I got a 2nd checkup by the nurse,and it was confirmed that my blood pressure at that time was high.So they made me wait in the ER for a 3rd checkup by the physician.Waited quite long,and it was not a pleasant wait.
In the ER.
On a gurney with the bars raised cos they were scared that I would faint again.
For like 2 hours.
All alone.
And in the backgound can hear other people telling their symtoms/kids crying/heart machine beeping.
And then I kept on thinking about the first GP saying 'not normal'.
So anyways,the 2nd checkup by the physician.She asked me whether I had any cough/vomiting/diahorrrea/etc.All no.So I had to wait longer for the specialist to check the 3rd time.
The physician had told me that there was nothing seriously wrong with me,so I was less worried,and was getting a bit bored.So I just started to look around the room,investigate the gurney mechanisms,look at the stuff on their shelves...They have a lot of needles in there.I was wondering if any druggy would steal a few or something,they wouldn't know.Then I remembered that needles can be bought at pharmacies anyway.=_=.
By that time I was getting a bit impatient and starting to feel a bit full in the bladder.Next door(ok,fine,behind the curtain)on the left, can hear one guy telling the doc his daughter has a very bad migrain,has been going on for 10 years already.The one in front was a small boy from i dunno what country,presumably getting a lot of injections,because he was screaming a lot and the nurses were all trying to calm him and tell him he's a good boy.One patient far towards the left was a woman who caught a disease while she was in Mecca for pilgrimage.
But the ER wasn't as dramatic as in movies lah.No sudden rushing in of patients with chest torn out and bleeding all over the floor kind of stuff.At last had a 4th checkup by the specialist.Again ask all the cough/vomit/etc questions.Managed to rule out chest infection ,but anyway i was asked to stay overnight to monitor my condition.But first,they took a blood test and stuck a needle into the back of my hand for any drips or injections they might have to administer later.
My parents asked for a single patient room,but apparently it's like a hot product there,so i had to wait until the next afternoon for an available room.Sohs that night I had to share a room with one other patient,which I found out was a Japanese woman.Can pretty much guess tho,because she was sort of talking a bit to herself in Japanese.Not in a creepy way lah,but things like 'okay' or 'what is this...' kind of thing.
Needless to say I couldn't sleep that night.The bed was very hard and doesn't have my homely body smell all over it.And I didn't get a decent blanket until 2am.Which was also the time a nurse suddenly came in and fixed an IV drip for me.She said it was just for hydration lah.But either way it was even harder to sleep with a bigass needle sticking out of the back of one hand.The thing about sharing a room is that you are always afraid of disturbing the other patient.Like if cannot sleep then i don't want to switch on the light to read.They should install blackout curtains or something...And don't want to adjust the reclining bed at night because it creaks.
The next day,the were pretty sure the palpitations was caused by a viral fever,so nothing much to worry about.Blood test results was normal.In the afternoon the fever was gone,but i still had to stay another night to wait for thyroid test results and take another blood test.Took a urine test and that turned out normal also.
Hospital food.Yes,everyone says it tastes horrible.I think it was ok lah,except for their porridge which tasted literally like rice in water.But anything served with soup is ok to me.Because their soup has pepper.And I like pepper.One thing that bothered me was that the food was served in melamine dishes and styrofoam cups,something i've been avoiding since reports about chemicals leaching into hot food.So any hot water sent in styrofoam cups,i immediately poured into my own flask cup.During dinner time,the Japanese woman's family visited her.Meaning her husband and 2 small boys.Nisa would have been thrilled.Especially since the kids were curious and trying to peep around my side of the room.I'm not much of a kid person ,so i just let them be.Besides that there was nothing else much interesting.Nope,no penises in jars and no gay male nurses.All the nurses were female,so i can say my blood pressure readings must have been accurate.
Next day i tried to do some marker assignments but then i discovered i couldn't even open the marker caps properly with a needle-inna-hand.So i convinced myself i was sleepy and didn't do assignments.But yet somehow i ended up markering a face onto one of my unused styrofoam cups.Maybe i'll post the pic later.But that night my needled had payed the price of being forced to work by being numb.
That's pretty much the story of my adventure.Too bad i didn't take any wonderful gruesome pics at the hospital.
