Another day at the clinic

I was on clinic duty again today.

The part I hate most when I’m on clinic duty? Finding a parking space!!! Aargh!! Even the not so popular spots were already taken up! After a few rounds around the hospital, I finally found one parking spot quite far from the specialist clinic but I took it anyway. Got down from my car… and saw the notice:

UNTUK KAKITANGAN HOSPITAL SAHAJA.

Oh whaddaheck… I was there to help out with the counseling at the HIV clinic, so I’d just consider myself as kakitangan (plus kepala & badan) hospital just for the day, albeit unpaid.

I was the earliest to arrive, so I just looked out the door to see if there were any familiar faces… none. Otherwise I could have taken the opportunity to chat with any of my old PLWHA clients while waiting for new cases to be sent in.

My fellow volunteer got there right on time before the staff nurse (SN) sent in our first case for the day – a Chinese guy in his 50s. According to SN there’d be only 2 new cases today, so there should be just one more after this one. Since this one was a Chinese-speaking guy, I let my fellow volunteer do all the talking and I sat there jotting down all the necessary info I could get from his medical file passed to us earlier by SN.

This particular guy is unmarried, unemployed and totally broke. He stays with his brother and they don’t get along well. I suppose the brother felt as though this guy is a burden. He used to be a construction worker but is too weak to work now.

But despite all that, he didn’t want a buddy. Why? Because the only number he has is the brother’s house number and any calls from us may result in his brother questioning him with all sorts of questions. Nevertheless, we gave him our brochure, so he could call us whenever he needed to.

Just as this guy was about to leave the room, Jah peeped in. Remember Jah… the one who joined me for the International Aids Memorial Day? Jah was as jovial as ever. She had already seen the doctor by then and just needed to go down to get her supply of antiretroviral drugs and to do some blood tests. I told her to go and do whatever necessary first and once she’s done and my clinic duty is over, I’d take her out for lunch before sending her to the bus station. She jumped for joy upon hearing that I’d be buying her lunch! One of her favourite things… FOOD (especially when free!).

By the time SN wanted to send in the other guy, also a Chinese guy, he had disappeared to God knows where. SN simply could not locate him. So no, we didn’t get to see this other guy.

But SN asked me if I had been in contact with Makcik Minah, the 74 year old grandma who was just diagnosed HIV positive a few weeks back. SN is quite concerned because Makcik Minah is an elderly person staying alone, and she needs to start on medication soon as her CD4 is only 11! Yes, THAT low. SN’s main concern is that this elderly lady may not be too compliant in taking her medication. I can understand SN’s concern. I have a mother of the same age, and while I do leave my mother alone at home during the daytime when I need to go to work, I never leave her alone overnight.

I had actually tried to call Makcik Minah twice, but nobody answered the phone. Since Makcik Minah has a son (the one and only son) staying and working in KL, I thought maybe she was with her son and her grandchildren during the school holidays. So I thought maybe I should try calling again after the school holidays.

Only today I found out that Makcik Minah had to be hospitalized. No wonder nobody answered the phone! But anyway, according to SN, Makcik Minah will be coming to the HIV clinic this Friday morning, so I will try to make it a point to meet her then. SN really felt that I should talk to Makcik Minah as her son still doesn’t know that his mom has HIV. If anything happens to her at least her son should know what to do or who to call! Probably Makcik Minah doesn’t even know how to start telling him.

Hopefully I will be able to meet up with Makcik Minah this Friday. Then I may come up with a new story to post…

Anyway, since there were not many new cases, I finished my clinic duty by noon and took Jah out for lunch. If you see the happy go lucky Jah, you wouldn’t for the life of you believe that some time ago she had lost both her husband and only son within a short time span. It was just a few days before Hari Raya Puasa her son died of dengue and then a few days before Hari Raya Haji the same year, her husband died of AIDS-related illnesses. Many would have gone nuts if they had to go through the same, but Jah held on.

Many of my other clients whom I had introduced to Jah simply loved being with her. She’s the very chatty type and loves to laugh. And her positive attitude obviously helped in improving her immune system. At one time her CD4 was already below 200 and she had to start on medication. Now her CD4 is up to 500+! She even got a pat on the back from the doctor today! Yep, that’s the kind of positive attitude we’d want our other clients to have.

But then again, unlike my other women PLWHAs, Jah doesn’t have any children’s future to worry about… and her family supports her wholeheartedly. The wholehearted family support she gets makes a B I I I I G difference…