What's at Ara?

For the last few days, I had been visiting the SDMC at Ara Damansara and the place was definitely spankingly brand new. the problem was the traffic getting in and out from Subang. I was only able to get there either early in the moment, or last thing on the day. Anything in between would be too much of a hassle, having to drop everything, especially there was only a single patient to see over there.

Otherwise, it seemed that all the test ordered were performed on time, and communications had been great. And yes, compared to Subang, the place was way less hectic ......

Irfan needs an Op

Irfan woke up this morning screaming in pain. He had problem doing his number one. Pain he said. He tried, and managed to pass some urine, but stopped halfway due to pain. It was burning. He had this problem last year, but it settled pretty quickly. This time it was different. Anita rushed him to meet me at the hospital, and a quick examinations at the Emergency Room explained where the pain was coming from.

He had an infection on his foreskin, and there was a bit of pus coming out. Painful stuff. I brought him up to see one of the surgeon, and it was pretty clear that he would need circumcision. Poor boy.

The date had been set for Wednesday week. I was slowly dropping hints to him about what was going to happen. Hopefully he would not freak out come the big day .....

For the meantime, he needs a salt bath, some antiseptic cream, and some antibiotics syrups. The pain was much better this afternoon. Hopefully it won't return tomorrow morning ....

Last Six Months

Yes. It has been six months since I was offered to join Sime Darby, and plenty of things had happened. I also filled my tax return today, and suffice to say, I'm broke!

Things had certainly picked up in the last three months, and even my Mum complained that I hardly came around as frequently. The new apartment also came in handy, as I didn't have to travel all the way to Gombak every time I was called to the hospital.

Alhamdulillah, six months certainly flew by in double quick time, and only recently that I started to understand the philosophy of private practice. Managing expectations seemed to be as important as having good clinical acumen. But, as I said all along, I must not complaint ....

Morning at Ara

I was called for a meeting this morning at the our new sister hospital at Ara Damansara and I must say that the place looked impressive. Supporting a huge lobby with comfortable sofa, everything looked spit and span.

According to the Director there, most of the system were in place but a few of the services were yet to be launched. My role there would be to oversee the transfusion service and to see any Harmatology referrals should there be any.

Driving there was surprisingly breezy this morning although this was not often the case. It took me close to half an hour to drive back from Ara to Subang Jaya, getting stuck at a few bottlenecks. This being one of the issue about seeing patients across there.

As a result, my morning start was delayed and a few of my patients had been waiting all morning for discharge. Sigh!

The Casualty Visits

Anita woke up this morning with a very severe abdominal pain, worst than she had ever felt before. She was crying despite the usual concoction of paracetamol and brufen. Reluctantly, she agreed for me to take her to a Casualty and the nearest to out house was Gleneagles. We packed our bags and we were there 10 minutes later.

The Trauma officer did some Xray but thought it was nothing serious and suggested some analgesia and return the next day to see a Consultant if the pain got any worse. We went back and the pain just kept on coming. Anita can't sit still and she felt better if she was moving. And the griping pain was really excruciating. Finally she agreed for me to take her to UMMC.

UMMC on a Sunday afternoon can be busy but we were lucky that on that day, the place was not as packed. Parking was a bit more straight forward than I expected. After getting Anita settled in, she had her blood taken and a painkiller injection was given to her bum. Before long, she was in la-la land.

After a couple of hours, the results cane back. Her white blood count was raised and an ultrasound was ordered. It did not any stones buy she would need a more detailed scan to be sure. We decided to wait for a couple more hours to see if her pain return after the painkilling injection wore off.

The pain did return but it was more of a dull ache. And no, there was no way she would agree for an admission! In the end, we decided to have painkiller tablets and go home, promising to take plenty of fluids. She would rather be rushed to a clinic for a painkiller jan rather than stay the night in hospital.

She took an extra painkiller tablet before going to bed and slept like a baby! This morning she woke up with a headache and nausea, but only with a dull backache. I'm sure those were the effect of the painkiller he took. She would rather stay at home with her boys!