Hospital visits…

We had our Family Day meeting last night – one last meeting before our Board meeting next Tuesday, and then THE day will be the Sunday after. Last night’s meeting was more to arrange on the logistics… who needs transportation, who’s fetching who etc. We also sorted out the toys for the kids – used toys donated by the public. Every year on Family Day, we make sure none of the kids go home empty handed.

Okay, so for the moment, looks like the necessary arrangements for the Family Day are all settled.

This morning I was on clinic duty again. Finding a parking, as usual, was a nightmare! (nightmare di siang hari??) Not wanting to waste much time, I went straight to the usual parking lot I always go to, which is already quite a distance to the Specialist Clinic. Usually not many people would want to park there. To my surprise, today even that parking lot was full! Uh oh… that only meant I needed to go a few more rounds…

After the 3rd round (I think), I finally got a parking space outside the hospital compounds – someone must have just got out. I didn’t really mind the walk to the HIV clinic – I needed the exercise anyway.

Today, there was a different nurse at the HIV clinic, the usual one will be away for 6 months attending a course. But I’ve met this nurse before when I went to the clinic 2 weeks ago to see the usual nurse. So there was no problem today, the new nurse recognised me straight away. She said there were supposed to be 2 new cases today but at that time they weren’t there yet.

So I just went to our usual room and waited there… and waited… and waited… and yawned… and waited… and yawned… and so I walked over again to the doctor’s room. I needed to see the doctor anyway to get one form signed for one of my clients to apply for the Pediatric Aids Funds. Plus, I needed to confirm with the doctor if next week’s clinic at Hospital Taiping is on… only to be told that it had to be cancelled because the doctor has to attend a meeting in KL.

After a while, I checked with the nurse again, and was told the 2 new cases had still not registered yet. It was almost 11.30 by then, and chances were they wouldn’t be coming at all. So I told the nurse I’d make a move before I end up sleeping on the couch!

So, no new cases referred today. What? After all the trouble of finding a parking space?! Oh well, I was not about to simply waste half a day just like that, so I decided to go to the blood bank. It’s more comfortable donating blood at the hospital’s blood bank rather than in public places during campaigns. More privacy too. It had been 6 months since my last blood donation, and besides, fasting month is coming soon, and they usually have limited supply of blood during fasting month. As a matter of fact, the nurse told me that blood supply is already running low.

So yes, my darling blog readers… if you are able to, please donate blood!

As I was on my way home, a call came in from PKI, another NGO dealing with PLHIVs in Teluk Intan. Someone called her, seeking help for a HIV+ friend now hospitalised at Ipoh GH. Since it was an Ipoh case, the PKI lady referred the case to me instead. So she passed me the number of the caller.

After I got home, I called the number given. It was the number of a friend of the PLHIV who was visiting from another state. From what I was told, one of the family members of the PLHIV  did come to visit a few days earlier, but after looking at his condition, refused to accept him back home.

I promised the guy I’d visit after asar, and so I did. It wasn’t too difficult getting a parking space by then.

I was told that the nurses were already thinking of transferring him to another hospital in another district since no family members want to take him home. His friends too do not know where they could send him as being bedridden, he’d need a place where someone could care for him.

I immediately called a lady from a shelter home up north and was told there’d be no problem if we want to transfer him there. They have 24 hour care. But I’d have to arrange for the necessary documents to transfer this guy’s appointments to the hospital in that state. We’d need to see the doctor for that purpose, and since it was already after 5.30 pm when I went to visit, there was no way we could do that today.

The nurse told us to come again at 8 am as that’s when the doctors will be doing their rounds. So yep, will have to go to the hospital again tomorrow morning to get the necessary done.

Hmmm… maybe I should just get a hospital sticker on my car…