Updates from the hospital…

I was relaxing at home yesterday when a text message came in on my hand phone. It came from Sofie’s number, but was actually sent by one of her children…

“Ck fzh mama kne thn wat dkt hsptl ipoh..”

It was already 6.40 pm then, and so I decided to wait until today to visit her.

I do have the special pass from the hospital so I don’t have to wait until visiting hours to visit her. But I didn’t want to go too early in the morning as during those hours the doctors were probably doing their rounds or she may have been brought elsewhere for tests etc. I decided to settle some other businesses earlier in the morning, went to the bank, went to the center, then only 10.40 am I went to the hospital. Having my car parked nearer to the Specialist Clinic, I figured I might as well drop by the ID clinic first to see the nurse before visiting Sofie in the ward. At least to get a better picture of what was wrong with Sofie as Sofie’s stories can sometimes be unreliable… not because she likes to lie, but because she herself doesn’t understand. (well, the last time she had some brain infections, she said she “sakit otak”)

The nurse wasn’t busy when I got in, so I sat down and had a chat with her.

Sofie actually came for her appointment at the ID clinic yesterday. She was so weak, her eldest son, this year sitting for his SPM, had to miss school to accompany her to the hospital. Imagine having to go up and down the bus when she could hardly walk.

Sofie was warded due to allergies to the new ARV medications given to her. She didn’t seem to adjust to the first regime of ARV given to her, so the doctor started her on a different regime. Apparently this time the side effects were even worse. She was so weak she could hardly walk. The nurse got a shock when she saw Sofie on a wheelchair during her appointment yesterday morning. She didn’t expect to see Sofie’s condition that bad. She had lost a lot of weight too (and she never had much weight to start with!). After she started taking the new regime of ARV medication, she couldn’t even eat. Every time she ate something, she’d vomit. Thus the loss of weight. Although the doctor told her to call the ID clinic if she had any problems, Sofie just decided to continue with the ARV and wait until her appointment day.

The doctor decided to get her warded so she could be put on drips and so she can regain her energy. She’ll be off ARV for 2 weeks before the doctor decides to put her on another regime of ARV. Hopefully her body will be able to take the next regime of ARV.

It was almost 11.45 am by time I went up to the ward to visit Sofie. I knew which ward she was in but I didn’t know her bed number. The board outside the ward didn’t have the names of patients at each bed. I thought I would have to go bed by bed to find her but apparently that wasn’t necessary. She was on the first bed. Sleeping on the chair by the bedside was small-sized Saiful, who spent the night there accompanying his mother. Saiful told me he had problems coming back up to the ward after he went down to get some food from the canteen. The guards didn’t believe he was 13 and so they didn’t let him in. Saiful had left his IC in the ward so he couldn’t prove his age to them. However he appealed, saying that he was accompanying his mother in the ward, one of the guards whispered to him, teaching him to use the back way. That was how he managed to get back in.

Sofie looked a bit better today, but she may need to spend at least one or two more days at the hospital for observation.

Anyway, while I was with the nurse at the ID clinic earlier, the nurse told me about a new case. A 24 year old pregnant lady, got married in Thailand to a guy whom her parents dislike. Until now the parents are neither aware of her marriage nor her pregnancy. The last time she went to visit them was during the last Raya, so I guess her pregnancy was not obvious. Her marriage has yet to be registered in Malaysia. She knew of her pregnancy for quite some time already, but only went for proper check-up last week. Her husband brought her to a private clinic, but when blood tests indicated she was HIV+, the private clinic immediately referred her case to Ipoh GH. The doctor at the ID clinic immediately started her on ARV, while the O&G had fixed her operation (to deliver the baby) for early next week.

The husband didn’t come along with his wife during last week’s appointment. Neither had he come for his own blood to be tested. According to the nurse, the lady gave all sorts of excuses why the husband couldn’t come. The nurse ended up babbling to her, to the extent that even the doctor told the lady, “You tengok! Sekarang you punya makcik (pointing to the nurse) pun sudah marah sama you!”

Hmmm… something smells rather fishy. I have a feeling there may be some other facts she may be hiding… like why her parents dislike the guy… why her husband didn’t come along to the hospital… why they didn’t bother to register the marriage…

I have taken down her details from the nurse just now, but I think I will wait until next week when she gets warded at the maternity ward, and this time I probably should visit during visiting hours… with the hope of meeting the husband as well. If the husband doesn’t turn up at the hospital to visit his wife after the delivery, then there definitely is one big stinking fish!

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…

House visits, house visits… bila mau pergi?!

Last week alone a few cases were referred to me to be considered for our sponsorship program, or at least for our Children Education Fund.

There’s Rajan, a single father (of 2 schooling kids) who’s too weak to work.

There’s Ramli, who is now bedridden and whose wives have left him to take care of 4 schooling children.

Then there’s a new case referred to me by the doctor herself. This lady goes for appointment at the Taiping hospital and we Buddies have yet to send any volunteers for support service at that hospital. So for the moment, if there are any cases which the doctor feels need financial help, she’d refer the case to us for our further action.

House visits for sponsorship assessment purposes require at least 2 Buddies to be present for the assessment. So, I don’t only have to find a suitable time when I can go, I’d also have to find a time when I can pull another volunteer to tag along.

That shouldn’t be too much of a problem in Rajan’s case, because he’s staying in Ipoh.

Ramli however, stays in a town about 1 1/2 hours drive from Ipoh. That is not inclusive of the time I’d need to find the particular kampong where Ramli’s family is staying. I’m not too familiar with the place, so I’d better get at least one male volunteer to come along. Besides, the client, a male, is bedridden, and so it’s probably best for a male volunteer to talk to him.

The third case referred by the doctor is Aza, a single mom of 4 kids, staying in a town north of Taiping. Again, unfamiliar territory and not in my GPS. But I did google to look for the town… and although I couldn’t find the specific road from my google search, I guess I can always use the AMTS system when I reach the town. Huh? AMTS? That’s Ada Mulut Tanya System…

Question now is… BILA MAU PERGI WEI??!

Hospital visits...

I wasn’t on clinic duty this week. But I had arranged for Hamid’s mother to bring him for his appointment on Wednesday through some funds I managed to get for their traveling and I thought it would be best if I could meet up with them personally to enable me to help arrange for some fixed monthly financial assistance for them.

I was also told by SN during my last clinic duty that Kak Som’s appointment would be last Wednesday, and I figured I might as well meet up with her too as I have not had the chance to see or speak to her yet.

So Wednesday, after settling some things at my office, I took about an hour off to go to the hospital.

This is Ipoh, so hey, it didn’t take that long to drive from my office to the hospital. But as usual, getting a parking space at the hospital can be hazardous to your health especially if you have hypertension! (Thank God I don’t…) After a few rounds (and almost at the verge of giving up) I finally managed to get one spot outside the hospital. Had to walk a bit but not a problem for me.

I headed straight to the HIV clinic, wanting to see SN first and to ask her if Hamid and Kak Som came for their appointments. I have never met them before and as such I needed SN to show me which of the many patients were these two.

Before I headed to the doctor’s room to look for SN, I decided to take a peek out front to see if there were any familiar faces around. And whaddaya know, I saw a familiar face. Yah (yes, Yah Ah Ngau) stood up the moment she saw me and headed right towards me. Hmmm… she did look a bit different. When I first knew her she looked like the typical kampong girl. Then when she got infected by the angau bug from Mr Darling, she looked like a kampong girl trying to look like a city girl. Well, when I saw her on Wednesday, she no longer looked odd in her modern dressing. She now looks like a typical city girl. Ah well…

Anyway, no, Mr. Darling was not around, so I didn’t get the chance to see how this supposedly charmer look like. Yah told me that after the appointment she’d be going to KL as the next day (Labour Day) was a holiday. I asked if there was any specific reason for her to go to KL, to which she answered with a sheepish smile, “Tak lah, saja pergi jumpa kawan” and then gave me that “you-know-what-I-mean” look. Uh oh… I wasn’t going to ask for more details; so I excused myself saying I needed to see SN. After all, I needed to go back to my office after that, so I didn’t really have the chance to have a long chat. Darn! I even forgot to ask Yah about her children!!

Off I went to look for SN at room 11 – that’s where I usually find her. But she was not there. I then went to look for her in room 9 – the room where we usually have our counseling sessions; as sometimes SN may be there to explain to the patients about their medication. But SN was not there either – just the pharmacists. Luckily when I asked the pharmacists where SN was, another nurse happened to pass by behind me and told me that SN was in room 12. Apparently there were so many patients that day, they had to use room 12 as well for the HIV cases.

When I got to room 12, SN was explaining to a patient about his medication. She stopped when she saw me as she knew my presence there must be to enquire about any of the HIV patients. I was told that Hamid was outside with his mother and it would not be too difficult for me to find him as he was the only one on a wheelchair. When I asked about Kak Som, SN told me that Kak Som was warded in ward 8A (or at least that was what I heard lah!).

Then I went back out front to look for Hamid and his mother. I saw one guy on a wheelchair and an elderly lady sitting not far. I figured the elderly lady must be his mother but I couldn’t be too sure. So I went to speak to Hamid first and asked for his mother. True enough, it was the elderly lady sitting nearby.

When I introduced myself to Hamid’s mother, calling her makcik, she instantly remembered me as the lady who had called her earlier. She kept referring to herself as Opah no matter how many times I called her makcik. Ah well, Opah it shall be then, even though eventually I found out that she was actually 2 years younger than my own mom (although I have to admit, she does look older).

I asked Opah who else stay with her other than Hamid.

“Dengan Atok lah, tapi Atok dah umur 80 lebih, dah tak larat nak buat apa dah. Ada cucu makcik sorang, tahun ni tingkatan 5.”

So, Opah’s husband is still alive. And she also has a 17 year old grand-daughter staying with her. The grand-daughter is actually Hamid’s daughter. Apparently Hamid was married before and when they got divorced, Opah took care of the daughter.

When I asked Opah about her source of income, she said, “Entahlah, tak tau Opah nak cakap. Kadang-kadang ada, kadang-kadang tak ada.” Atok used to do some kampong work to make a living and now that he is already too weak to work, they no longer have a proper source of income. And with Hamid’s condition, Opah can’t rely on Hamid either to make ends meet. I then asked if Opah had any other children. She seemed reluctant to answer that question, but she did finally say that many of them had passed away.

Opah doesn’t seem to be getting any welfare assistance either although I personally feel both Atok and Opah should qualify for Bantuan Warga Tua as they don’t have any of their children taking care of them. I suppose the welfare department is not aware about of their situation while Opah herself doesn’t know how to get help. My responsibility now is to bring up the matter to the welfare department.

I told Opah I’d try to arrange for some help but at the same time I told her I could not promise her anything as it was not up to me to decide who gets assistance and who doesn’t.

I spent about 15 minutes talking to Opah, after which I headed back to my office. It wasn’t visiting hours yet so I figured I’d come back later to visit Kak Som at the ward.

After my asar prayer, I went back to the hospital. This time, getting a parking space wasn’t too bad. I headed straight to ward 8A, hoping the list of patients would be displayed outside the ward (usually it is) but was disappointed to see the list empty. I went in, looking from bed to bed for Kak Som but couldn’t find her name written at any of the beds. Finally I decided to ask one of the nurses, but since the name I mentioned didn’t sound familiar at all to the nurse, she decided to check her list. Nope, no such name. Even if Kak Som was discharged or transferred to another ward, they would still have her name in their records. Either I wrongly heard SN or SN had mistakenly given me the wrong info.

I tried looking for Kak Som’s name in 8B – still no luck. So no, I still haven’t had the opportunity to see or even speak to Kak Som. I will have to check with SN later.

I guess I am not fated to meet Kak Som yet...

Hospital visits

I was on clinic duty again yesterday. After the usual driving around the hospital a few times trying to find a parking space, I finally found a spot, again, where the sign says…

P: KAKITANGAN HOSPITAL SAHAJA

I’d only use that spot whenever I’m on clinic duty (and when I’ve given up driving around) although I cannot be considered a “kakitangan hospital”. After all there was the big letter P there… and I am… ehem… P! :)

We only had one new case referred to us yesterday, so there is not much to tell about yesterday’s clinic duty. We (the volunteers) spent more time talking to each other. As the afternoon visiting hours start at 12.30 pm, I excused myself from the clinic by then to visit 2 of my PLWHA clients in the wards.

Remember how I helped to bring Rina to the hospital for her appointment and she was immediately admitted to the ward due to her weak condition? Well, it has been 3 weeks since then, she’s STILL in the ward. The swollen feet doesn’t look so bad now but Rina is still unable to walk. Even when trying to sit down she’d feel one kind.

But emotionally Rina looks a lot better now. At least yesterday I saw her smile. And she talked a lot more than when I met her earlier. Of course she’s already feeling restless having to stay in the hospital for so long, but since she’s still unable to walk, she doesn’t really have much choice.

I don’t know what it is about Rina but since day one when I brought her to the hospital, I always seem to bump into people who either know me or people who don’t know me but still ask what my relation was to Rina. 3 weeks ago when Rina was being helped from my car onto a wheelchair, I happened to bump into a kampong folk of mine. She’s not the kay-poh type, but seeing that the “patient” came down from my car, of course she became interested… in case the person was a family member of mine. Not much problem with this one, I just told her that Rina was a friend, and immediately the kampong folk of mine assumed that Rina was a colleague at work. Doesn’t matter lah… just don’t ask anything further…

Then yesterday when I visited Rina in the ward, the first person to ask was a hospital staff. She asked if I was Rina’s auntie. Auntie?! According to the staff we both looked rather similar. OK la… but why assume auntie? Why not sister? Do I look so old? Rina is after all, already 40 years of age. But I have to admit, Rina’s mom (whom the staff sees every day) looks young so maybe that’s why the staff thought I was an aunt. (I’m trying to console myself here… hehehe)

Then the makcik whose bed was besides Rina’s came back from the toilet to her bed. The moment she saw me she said, “Ha, ada maknya!” Huh?! She thought I was Rina’s mom?? Haiya! Do I look that old? Hmmm… maybe I look motherly? (I doubt it, really!) Aduuuh…. never mind…

After visiting Rina, I went down to another ward at the floor below to visit Mr. K who had been hospitalized since last week. Mrs. K was there too. Since Mr. K needed help to go to the toilet etc, someone had to stay at the hospital with him. Mrs. K has been accompanying him at the hospital since day one which means that her children are by themselves at home. That’s not too bad considering they have a reliable 16 year old boy taking care of his younger siblings including the 8 month old baby. But the bad thing is that it also means the boy has been missing school since last week. And Mrs. K too has been taking leave from work since then and that means much lesser pay this month!

Ah well, problems… problems…