My Trip to A&E

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I kind of find it funny that I am saying this but then I had just returned from quite an interesting trip to the Accident & Emergency Department in Tan Tock Seng Hospital. (Picture "Hospital 5" by rweller)

It all started on Sunday when I sprained my left ankle. Talking about "luck"; first I had this leg problem on my right leg which has been giving me pain for the last 3 months or so and then on Sunday, I sprained my left ankle when my left ankle "gave way" while trying to recover from pins and needles standing up. So technically, now, both my legs were in pain. So, went to see a GP on Monday and was given 2 jabs and some medicine, costing me a total of $100 in total (heart pain).

Then yesterday, decided (finally, after 3 months) to relent and heed KM's advice to go to A&E to seek medical advice for my "older" injury. $180 in two days (wow, heart pain heart pain). It has been months and KM has been trying to get me to go to A&E to see a doctor about my leg, especially since I have already visited GPs 4 times already and there seem to be no conclusion to the whole episode, except me being told that I need to cut down on my weight. I am quite worried about my leg too but then frankly, I did not feel comfortable going to A&E because I did not think my condition warrant it an emergency to go to A&E. OK OK, another reason why I am not wanting to go see a doctor in a hospital because I fear bad diagnosis and also painful treatments and surgeries. Having witnessed a surgery being done before my eyes when I worked as a medical social worker has somewhat scared me. But still, I guess I cannot argue with KM that it is still best to find out if anything's wrong and if it is, treat it early and if it's not, then I can be in peace.

And so, I finished my stuff, packed me bag and off I went to TTSH A&E. In fact, I was so conscious and paisay about coming to A&E with an non-emergency case, I mumbled when the nurse at the screening station asked me why I was here. But anyway, thank God that the whole episode went on well and it was a rather enjoyable visit to A&E, really. Even though the whole thing lasted 5 hours (including 3 hours of waiting), I thank God that time seemed to passed very quickly maybe because I had brought my book to read, maybe because there was TV to watch, maybe because I was already ready to wait considering that mine was not much of an emergency as compared to the others, maybe because of occasional messaging with my sis and KM and also maybe because of all the interesting things and people I encountered. As I talked and smsed KM, it became clear to me how I had been blessed with nice people from the moment I walked in to A&E. The moment I walked in, I was greeted by this friendly guy who was in charge of payment, and then I encountered this friendly nurse at the triage who striked up a little conversation with a smile. Then, much later into the wait, a friendly nurse came by with a trolley offering smiles, assurance, milo and biscuits. (Picture "Ruska" by cx_ed)

Finally, I met a friendly doctor who kept apologizing and thanking me for my patience and for not screaming at him. Then surprisingly, he took effort to even explain the medication that was given to me by the GP I consulted yesterday, the medication he was going to give me and gave me quite a bit of "lesson", explaining clearly on things like referred pain, dorsalis pedis pulse vs radial pulse, about a 4-step rule used in US to identify the seriousness of a sprain, about my spine (eventually even drawing a 3D and 2D diagram of my spine), white coat syndrome and how to identify from x-ray whether I have wear and tear in my knee cartillage. Then, again he kept saying thank you for being patient (hmmm, come to think about it, I was already a patient haha) and kept reassuring about the cost, about how I do not have to wait further and to return to him directly after investigation and how I can leave my bag with them in A&E while I go for my investigation. Then, after returning from X-ray, he also told me how I can come back to A&E if the pain gets bad and gave some tips on how I could be attended to faster should I come back to A&E. Lastly, he seem to also be quite sensitive and at one point in time, he was commenting about my size and used the word "huge" only to then to apologise saying it is not politically correct and used the word "bigger built". Frankly, I was very surprised in the extent to which this doctor had tried to attend to a patient considering this is an A&E department but then I appreciated the good service and decided to, on my way out, fill out a feedback form commending his service. Really thank God for blessing me with pleasant people and for making the 5-hour wait in A&E bearable. It was also interesting going for X-ray for the first time.

OK, now back to my health. Finally, after many months, there is a diagnosis which does not come back as "weight problem" but more possibly a back problem which maybe acting on the nerve, causing referred pain in my leg. Hoping it is not slip-disc and frankly, I am not the least keen on operations. The doctor did say that the x-ray of my back does show a very stiff spine. Well, will see where it goes from here and I will have to see a orthopedic specialist next month.

Anyway, was given another 4 days MC, in addition to the 2 days I got from the previous doctor. Wow, a whole week away from work... good rest but then kind of feel bad also about being away from work. On one hand, I thank God for blessing me at work so much so work is not only getting bearable but then I do also have time to take it easy mentally but then on the other hand, I am feeling a little guilty not seemingly doing much during this period and now, I am on MC. Hmmm... And funny thing is that I was almost AWOL from work this morning because my boss was still wondering why I did not report for work :D