Jason’s Blog

Putrajaya Hospital Visit, 18/09/2006

Left home at 6.10 a.m. Miss-called Phui Lin to indicate that I was on the way. At around 6.30, reached Titiwangsa station and waited a while for Phui Lin. We then took the train to Sri Petaling station where we were supposed to gather at 7 a.m.

Mun Yew and Kher Li were our chaffeuers for the day. Sat in Mun Yew’s car with Kong, Kok Pun and Po Leen while Phui Lin, Wai Leong, Sau Kean and Laura were in Kher Li’s car. We left around 7.15 a.m. and reached about 1/2 hour later. Since we were still early, we Shiok Sendiri and took some photographs first.

We then went to meet our pharmacist for the day, a Miss Ching. She gave us the itenary for the day. Since it was still early and we had 1/2 hour before the first session, we went down to the cafetaria for breakfast first.

Although the hospital was quite large and high-class, the cafetaria was rather small. While eating, we signed the 3 Thank You cards to be given to Miss Ching, MA for echocardio and MA for haematodialysis later.

We were to meet our MA for echocardio, a Mr. Faris at 8.30 a.m. We reached there and waited awhile. He come a few moments later and ushered us into the echocardio room. Since there weren’t any patients at that time, he explained all the questions that were in the log book and the various procedures and what-nots. We waited around 40 plus minutes for our patient to come but didn’t show up so Miss Ching suggested that one of us volunteered to be screened. We unanimously voted Kong for it even before he could make a sound…Kekeke…

Suffice to say, Kong is a very healthy fella. He even got 2 pictures of his heart: one coloured the other uncoloured.

We then went to the haemodialysis centre but was told that our MA had gone for a course in Penang, so we had a Puan Ramani, a staff nurse to explain stuffs to us. While explaining the techniques in dialysis, she allowed me to touch the patient’s fistula: It was soft and I could feel blood gushing through it. Gosh!!! Freaky!!!

Since we were to interview a patient, 3 of us went over to a patient and spoke to her. We chose her since she was one of the few who was awake at that time and was holding an English story book, hence we would not have any problems with the language (hehe…we’re damn sly wei…) Anyway, she told us about her medical history (and since we’re not allowed to discuss openly about patient’s confidential particular, even here), so it’s sufficient to say that she’s very upset about her present condition. There was a point where she broke down and tears started streaming down her eyes. We were very uneasy and wanted to console her but (remember Miss Wong or Dr Xavier in Sem 2) told us that if a patient were to cry, we were to allow them and NOT to say anything. So we looked around uneasily everywhere but her so that she would not feel even worse. I gestured one of us to just pat her arm to console her since we didn’t know what to do. After a while, she was OK again, we finished out interview and then left. She gave me the impression that she knows LOTS of stuffs. Hey man, she can even quote which fruits and which vegetable is high in K+ that can lead to cardiac arrythmia. She even spoke to us in medicine jargon…

Miss Ching said that we should interview other patients as well to get a general idea about dialysis patients and advised us to do so in the 2nd session at 3 later. Since we had 2 1/2 hours for lunch, she suggested that we head to Alamanda for lunch.

We went to McD and had lunch. Some of us wanted to search for the arcade and headed off to the 2nd floor, but we couldn’t find one. Somehow we stopped by ToyCity, went in and spend the next 45 mins searching for a cute soft toy for Wei Yin’s birthday the next day. Finally we found a very cute Mummy Dog hugging a Baby Dog, to be shared by the 11 of us: me, Sau Kean, Kong, Wai Leong, Kok Pun, Mun Yew, Phui Lin, Kher Li, Suk Kuan, Michelle and Esther… To Wei Yin: Happy Birthday Tomorrow!!!

We went back to Putrajaya and got burnt for 10 mins under the blazing sun (I had more sun today just in 1 day than all the days combined for the whole of last week!!! Sigh, talk about life in IMU)

We waited awhile for Mr. Faris and his patient to come, then we were brought into the stress test room where an 81-year-old man was to be tested. After that, we presented him with a Thank You card and IMU’s gift.

Mr. Faris was REALLY NICE and friendly!!! He was chatty and laughed most of the time, making us feel at ease in his presence. He knows about his stuffs and could explain things very well to us. He acted like a lecturer, asking us loads of questions for us to answer and when we can’t find the answer, probed us to think some more. Really lucky to get this guy today. Hopefully those who’d be here on Wed would get him too!!!!

We went back to the dialysis centre where we split into 2 groups to interview 2 patients. All the patients were Malay, so we spoke in Malay. I also simply say only lar, if got Bahasa Pasar also Bahasa Pasar lar… (I so Pai Seh ler, BM not very Ngam, Xp)…Hehe… This patient wasn’t that well verse in medicine unlike the 1st patient but he knows the function of the medicine that he took (but there’re some statements that were quite ambiguous…Hmmm, dunno lar, just borak borak with the Pakcik only lar :>) Before we left, we gave Puan Ramani the IMU souvenir. Since she was busy, we couldn’t take any picture so…

We went up to Miss Ching’s office, met her colleague (our MPharm senior from IMU), chatted with her for a while and before we left took photographs with her. We learnt a few things today: a) Not everything that you learn is applicable in real life b) Your brain shrinks by 60% if you rest for > 6 months (so get those neurons working, guys!!!) c) Hand signal…Hehe

Before we left, we stopped by Taman Botani to take some photographs, then drove to IMU. Overall, it was really educational and a really humbling experience. It causes us to question ourselves and all those "unhappiness" that we frequently complain about (life is unfair lar, so much to study lar, no time lar) but after visiting those dialysis patients, it made me think how lucky some of us are and how often we overlook our own happiness in our everyday lives. Just think about it: How lucky we are to still be able to lead a normal, healthy life without having to spend 4 hours a day, 3 times a week, 52 times a year for the rest of your life, being hooked up to some machine? It just shows how fragile human life is, one moment you may be super healthy, the next thing you know, you have something being inserted into you. The take away message: Cherish life.

Before I end, here’s something:

The car was found abandoned in an unknown location by an unknown person. Any information, please call 1300-88-2525

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