Hospitalisation
It's been quite some time since my last post. Well...it's because I was recently hospitalised for acute asthma attack. I went to NUH A&E (National University Hospital - Accident and Emergency) on Friday night (22 July 05). They gave me the nubuliser treatment (the one where they fix this gas mask on you and ask you to breathe in some smokey looking gas) and some steroids to clear my airway. However I did not respond to the treatment. So they decided to hospitalise me. My parents were outside waiting anxiously for me...I still remember how my mother cried. Sad.
I was warded to Ward 54 Bed 17. It was already around 1.00 am at that time...very sleepy and still having difficulty breathing. My parents stayed on awhile before leaving home.
The next day, I woke up and saw the people around me. Reminded me of my BMT (Basic Military Training) days where I sleep with fellow recruits who lie on their bed coughing from the "Tekong cough". They were different in the sense that they were in their 70s - this means that I am the youngest in the ward. Feels strange huh?
Anyway, there are a lot of interesting people that I met and interacted with in my stay. Talking and having them around sure made the stay less lonely (and they were saying that there's a generation gap...lol).
Bed 18: A weird guy
This guy is weird...real weird...and he's just beside my bed. When I first saw him, he was very pitiful as he had this device stuck to his throat. I heard something about he not being able to clear phlegm from his throat or something like that and the doctors were afraid that he would choke and die. Hence they inserted this tube which is suppose to help him breathe...but from the looks of it...he sure has a hard time talking. Because of this, he would make strange noises with his mouth like "cluck cluck" or use his cup and hit the table or even slap on his bed making "thud thud" noises. After awhile it gets irritating. This is bad for our ward as the people can't really sleep that well. When people try to help him, he made gestures and sounds. But those helping him can't understand what he's trying to bring across.
Bed 19: The guy with the long eyebrows
His eyebrows are looong. That's the most distinguishable feature he has. He's a nice guy who talks to me. In fact he's the one who talked the most while the others occasionally talk to me. He would ask me how I am ("Eh...lu an cua?") and from there a conversation will start. A nice guy. He was discharged the same day as me.
Bed 20: The first to get discharge
Don't really know him as he's the first one to be discharged. In fact he was disharged on my first day in hospital. Lol. Anyway I was transferred to his bed later on as my bed was occupied by someone else later on in the week.
Bed 21: A nice guy also
This guy is nice also. At times he would comment on the nurses in our ward.
"This guy arh...he very nice one. Very gentle and kind. He must be a Filipino."
"That lady arh...aiyah...so irritating. Any-o-how disturb me when I sleep. She must be Singaporean."
So are Filipinos more gentle and kind than Singaporeans? Lol.
Bed 22: Mao Ze Dong
I tell you that this guy looks A LOT like Mao. After sleeping he will just sit and smile and look around. It's his smile that makes him look a lot like Mao. He and Bed 18 have some kind of grudge I think as he would laugh or smile whenever Bed 18 has some problem trying to communicate with the nurses.
"Ni bu yao guan ta" (Just ignore him...referring to Bed 18)
Bed 23: Foul-mouthed senior citizen
A comical old ah-beng. He was warded later on in the week. He sure talks like an ah-beng with a "knn" here and a "*****" there. But he's nice towards the people around. I guess it's just the way he talks.
Bed 24: Silent
When I was warded, there was this guy in Bed 24. He had a supportive family (his wife and daughter) who stayed with him through the whole night. The daughter would read to him while his wife would support him. However, later on at around 4.00 am to 5.00 am I could hear cries and mourning from their bed. I guess he must have left them.
"Ni bu yao zou a. Kuai dien hui lai!"
"Ma...ni bu yao zhe yang ke yi ma? Rang ta zou ba"
It was a sad scene.
Later on in the morning, the whole family came to see him. After that the hospital personnel came and collected the body.
After one or two days, another guy was warded to the same bed. He looks lifeless and was not responsive to anything. When the doctor came to do his rounds, he was still lying there...sleeping or unconscious. But what I know is that he slept the whole time I was there...to the day I was discharged.
So this is the small "community" I stayed with. I guess you could say I was the youngest. I was discharged on Sunday afternoon. So during these three days...I sure learnt and seen a lot.
This is the IV stuff that they injected into me. It sure made my life more difficult and painful.
I guess being hospitalised need not necessarily be a sad thing you know. Personally, I got to know more people and learn new stuff (like how old people talk; the different kinds of characters old people have; how people deal with death). I guess it's your outlook towards it that matters.
Tags: Hospital
I was warded to Ward 54 Bed 17. It was already around 1.00 am at that time...very sleepy and still having difficulty breathing. My parents stayed on awhile before leaving home.
The next day, I woke up and saw the people around me. Reminded me of my BMT (Basic Military Training) days where I sleep with fellow recruits who lie on their bed coughing from the "Tekong cough". They were different in the sense that they were in their 70s - this means that I am the youngest in the ward. Feels strange huh?
Anyway, there are a lot of interesting people that I met and interacted with in my stay. Talking and having them around sure made the stay less lonely (and they were saying that there's a generation gap...lol).
Bed 18: A weird guy
This guy is weird...real weird...and he's just beside my bed. When I first saw him, he was very pitiful as he had this device stuck to his throat. I heard something about he not being able to clear phlegm from his throat or something like that and the doctors were afraid that he would choke and die. Hence they inserted this tube which is suppose to help him breathe...but from the looks of it...he sure has a hard time talking. Because of this, he would make strange noises with his mouth like "cluck cluck" or use his cup and hit the table or even slap on his bed making "thud thud" noises. After awhile it gets irritating. This is bad for our ward as the people can't really sleep that well. When people try to help him, he made gestures and sounds. But those helping him can't understand what he's trying to bring across.
Bed 19: The guy with the long eyebrows
His eyebrows are looong. That's the most distinguishable feature he has. He's a nice guy who talks to me. In fact he's the one who talked the most while the others occasionally talk to me. He would ask me how I am ("Eh...lu an cua?") and from there a conversation will start. A nice guy. He was discharged the same day as me.
Bed 20: The first to get discharge
Don't really know him as he's the first one to be discharged. In fact he was disharged on my first day in hospital. Lol. Anyway I was transferred to his bed later on as my bed was occupied by someone else later on in the week.
Bed 21: A nice guy also
This guy is nice also. At times he would comment on the nurses in our ward.
"This guy arh...he very nice one. Very gentle and kind. He must be a Filipino."
"That lady arh...aiyah...so irritating. Any-o-how disturb me when I sleep. She must be Singaporean."
So are Filipinos more gentle and kind than Singaporeans? Lol.
Bed 22: Mao Ze Dong
I tell you that this guy looks A LOT like Mao. After sleeping he will just sit and smile and look around. It's his smile that makes him look a lot like Mao. He and Bed 18 have some kind of grudge I think as he would laugh or smile whenever Bed 18 has some problem trying to communicate with the nurses.
"Ni bu yao guan ta" (Just ignore him...referring to Bed 18)
Bed 23: Foul-mouthed senior citizen
A comical old ah-beng. He was warded later on in the week. He sure talks like an ah-beng with a "knn" here and a "*****" there. But he's nice towards the people around. I guess it's just the way he talks.
Bed 24: Silent
When I was warded, there was this guy in Bed 24. He had a supportive family (his wife and daughter) who stayed with him through the whole night. The daughter would read to him while his wife would support him. However, later on at around 4.00 am to 5.00 am I could hear cries and mourning from their bed. I guess he must have left them.
"Ni bu yao zou a. Kuai dien hui lai!"
"Ma...ni bu yao zhe yang ke yi ma? Rang ta zou ba"
It was a sad scene.
Later on in the morning, the whole family came to see him. After that the hospital personnel came and collected the body.
After one or two days, another guy was warded to the same bed. He looks lifeless and was not responsive to anything. When the doctor came to do his rounds, he was still lying there...sleeping or unconscious. But what I know is that he slept the whole time I was there...to the day I was discharged.
So this is the small "community" I stayed with. I guess you could say I was the youngest. I was discharged on Sunday afternoon. So during these three days...I sure learnt and seen a lot.
This is the IV stuff that they injected into me. It sure made my life more difficult and painful.
I guess being hospitalised need not necessarily be a sad thing you know. Personally, I got to know more people and learn new stuff (like how old people talk; the different kinds of characters old people have; how people deal with death). I guess it's your outlook towards it that matters.
Tags: Hospital
posted by Steph at 10:34 AM
| 
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home