my mum wanted to get some gel for the pain in her leg. the ones she had been given after her knee op had finished. and so it was decided that i would bring her to the polyclinic after her haircut. the plan for yesterday was to go for haircut, then to the polyclinic, lunch and visits to the 2 temples. mum was all excited about the programme and woke up very early. i picked her up as promised at 7.15am. but from then on, everything went wrong.
her appointment with the hairdresser at marine parade was at 8am. and we left her place at 7.15am. and that was went we met with our first cock up - traffic jams. it was a monday and there were jams after jams... and my car was literally crawling from cck to nus, from teck whye to upper bukit timah road to clementi! i managed to hold my cool and joked with mum along the whole journey. and when we got to marine parade, it was past 8.30am! nonetheless, mum got her haircut and she was rather happy about it.
we headed to the polyclinic to get mum's pain relief gel. and since we were there, we decided to get a cough mixture for mum as she's had some slight cough on and off over the past few days. that was where we met our second cock up. you see, at the polyclinic, due to the blasting aircon, mum's throat was dry and she kept coughing. and the doctor, upon hearing her coughs, got worried. using his stethoscope, he found her lungs to be filled with some fluids. and since she had recently been discharged from hospital due to chest infection, i suspected he panicked. he rushed her for an ecg. the ecg results came back ok, but being kiasu, he wrote a referral letter and asked that she be sent to sgh a&e immediately. i tried to explain that her cough was due to the air-con but he insisted that he cannot not sent her to the a&e cos he suspected she had a new infection just when she was discharged from the hospital... and he even went on to tell us that mum might get a heart attack if we don't. hmmm... in the end, not only did we ended up with no gel, we were asked to go to sgh a&e! what the... anyway...
at the sgh a&e, we met with the third cock-up. i alighted mum and the domestic help at the a&e to register and went to park my car. when i came to look for them, i couldn't find them. apparently, despite having no fever, mum was asked to go to the fever area as she coughed when she was registering. when i found them, the nurse told me she had to immediately put mum on oxygen and whisked to the critical care area where her ecg was taken. but when the doctor came, he found to be ok and that her oxygen level was actually very ok. and interestingly, mum was chatting and laughing as he was attending to her. so he took her off the oxygen mask. and he pondered why she was sent to sgh a&e in the first place. but since she's been referred, he had to make sure she's indeed ok. so he ordered a blood test and a chest x-ray. mum was subsequently sent to the observation ward. the x-ray results came back indicating that her lungs, despite having some fluids, had not deteriorated from the last time she was in hospital. in another words, mum was perfectly ok. but to be completely sure, we had to wait for the blood test results. halfway through, the doctor went off duty. but before leaving, he explained to us that he had handed over mum's case to his colleague and that his colleague would explain to us the blood test results once it's out. he shared that he felt mum should not have been referred to the hospital in the first place. nonetheless, he wished us well and went off duty.
and we met with the fourth cock up. we waited. and waited. and waited... and after close to 2 hours, the nurse came and tell us that the doctor had apparently not hand over our case and had been uncontactable. so they had no choice but to activate a consultant. thus, we had to wait further... sighs... the extended wait was really a good test for my tolerance and patience. i had to keep reminding myself that i should just be thankful that mum was ok. anyway, about half an hour later the consultant came. and according to her, the blood test showed that mum had actually recovered very well. in fact, her health was much better than compared to 2 weeks ago when she was discharged...
hmmm...
a happy day turned awfully bad... all becos of a young kancheong doctor. or should i say, becos of our desire to want to get cheap pain relief gel! heh heh... but well, the bright side of the whole screw up was that i had a very good time chatting with mum through the whole day. and we kept laughing about how she was sent to sgh a&e while all she wanted was some gel. and also, we now know that mum is healthy!
:-)
her appointment with the hairdresser at marine parade was at 8am. and we left her place at 7.15am. and that was went we met with our first cock up - traffic jams. it was a monday and there were jams after jams... and my car was literally crawling from cck to nus, from teck whye to upper bukit timah road to clementi! i managed to hold my cool and joked with mum along the whole journey. and when we got to marine parade, it was past 8.30am! nonetheless, mum got her haircut and she was rather happy about it.
we headed to the polyclinic to get mum's pain relief gel. and since we were there, we decided to get a cough mixture for mum as she's had some slight cough on and off over the past few days. that was where we met our second cock up. you see, at the polyclinic, due to the blasting aircon, mum's throat was dry and she kept coughing. and the doctor, upon hearing her coughs, got worried. using his stethoscope, he found her lungs to be filled with some fluids. and since she had recently been discharged from hospital due to chest infection, i suspected he panicked. he rushed her for an ecg. the ecg results came back ok, but being kiasu, he wrote a referral letter and asked that she be sent to sgh a&e immediately. i tried to explain that her cough was due to the air-con but he insisted that he cannot not sent her to the a&e cos he suspected she had a new infection just when she was discharged from the hospital... and he even went on to tell us that mum might get a heart attack if we don't. hmmm... in the end, not only did we ended up with no gel, we were asked to go to sgh a&e! what the... anyway...
at the sgh a&e, we met with the third cock-up. i alighted mum and the domestic help at the a&e to register and went to park my car. when i came to look for them, i couldn't find them. apparently, despite having no fever, mum was asked to go to the fever area as she coughed when she was registering. when i found them, the nurse told me she had to immediately put mum on oxygen and whisked to the critical care area where her ecg was taken. but when the doctor came, he found to be ok and that her oxygen level was actually very ok. and interestingly, mum was chatting and laughing as he was attending to her. so he took her off the oxygen mask. and he pondered why she was sent to sgh a&e in the first place. but since she's been referred, he had to make sure she's indeed ok. so he ordered a blood test and a chest x-ray. mum was subsequently sent to the observation ward. the x-ray results came back indicating that her lungs, despite having some fluids, had not deteriorated from the last time she was in hospital. in another words, mum was perfectly ok. but to be completely sure, we had to wait for the blood test results. halfway through, the doctor went off duty. but before leaving, he explained to us that he had handed over mum's case to his colleague and that his colleague would explain to us the blood test results once it's out. he shared that he felt mum should not have been referred to the hospital in the first place. nonetheless, he wished us well and went off duty.
and we met with the fourth cock up. we waited. and waited. and waited... and after close to 2 hours, the nurse came and tell us that the doctor had apparently not hand over our case and had been uncontactable. so they had no choice but to activate a consultant. thus, we had to wait further... sighs... the extended wait was really a good test for my tolerance and patience. i had to keep reminding myself that i should just be thankful that mum was ok. anyway, about half an hour later the consultant came. and according to her, the blood test showed that mum had actually recovered very well. in fact, her health was much better than compared to 2 weeks ago when she was discharged...
hmmm...
a happy day turned awfully bad... all becos of a young kancheong doctor. or should i say, becos of our desire to want to get cheap pain relief gel! heh heh... but well, the bright side of the whole screw up was that i had a very good time chatting with mum through the whole day. and we kept laughing about how she was sent to sgh a&e while all she wanted was some gel. and also, we now know that mum is healthy!
:-)
No comments:
Post a Comment