.Thursday, September 6, 2007 ' 1:30 PM Y
TRINITY MEGAN
Day 1We were waiting for the door to be opened outside the Female Ward when we saw a woman standing near the glass door asking us this,
"Excuse me, miss. You got bring your handphone or not?"
My friends from the previous batch warn us about this female patient who will go around asking the same question to everyone, in particularly asking to borrow our handphones so that she can call her family members to fetch her back.
So, we just replied, "Sorry, we are working now, cannot bring handphone one."
Man, let me say that she is really very annoying and irritating. Every doctors who come into the ward, she'll follow them around and ask when she can be discharged. Well, not anytime soon i guess because her condition is not getting any better. She refused to take her medicine and is a disturbance to all.
During briefing, there's a patient who came close to us looking at our hair. I was wondering what's so nice about out caps and I asked my friend what she's looking at. She stood beside my friend and asked her whether she can take out her hair clips or not. Then only I know she's interested in the colourful hair clips. LOL!!! Luckily mine's plain old black hair pins. Not those colourful types.
Next, we went over to the Male Ward for orientation to the department. As we were walking into the ward, we heard the patients saying,
"Hi sayang...Leng lui.."
I can feel goosebumps on my skin and was so scared that I walked faster and closer to my friends, holding their hands, praying in my heart and saying,
Me: Wei Ling, I'm very scared.
WL: Me too. Come let's walk faster.
Then the lecture of the year started again. Nenek dara tua talked non-stop in front of all the male patients, oblivious to our fear and insecurity in the Male Ward. I am so relieved and glad that I'm placed in the Female Ward and not the Male Ward. I can see the patients gawking at us and keep smiling and laughing to themselves.Some were even dancing around trying to catch our attention. LOL!!!
Day 2As usual, we arrived outside the Female Ward waiting for someone to open the door and let us in. The same annoying patient who keep asking us to lend her our handphone is there to welcome us again. Also, one female patient who's a smoker and very rude and loves to snatch people's food is there as well. I really don't like her as she's dirty, rude, a bully, doesn't listen to commands and advise. OK, enough about her. LOL!!!
Today I was also assigned to the clinic. What I did there is mostly being a translator for the patients and doctor. LOL..
Most of the patients that come for appointment are not psychotic but neurotic. Some are because of anxiety, stress.
There's a patient who becomes psychotic because her husband has a second wife. Guys...Can't you all stay faithful and be monogamous? Another patient is there because he's on the verge of getting a divorce and he mentions that his children and wife doesn't communicate at home. I think that's really sad. I mean, they were married for so long already and this happens now. If they work things out by talking and be very honest, maybe they will have a chance at
salvaging their marriage. Hmm, I'm not married myself so I'm really clueless about these...Those are just some of tough things in life.
After that, I am back in the ward. There's this patient who is schizophrenic and is kinda stubborn. She hid herself in the bathroom, in her wet clothes and faeces stain on her legs, refusing to come out even after the staffnurse talked to her nicely, asking her to change into dry clothes. When the patient still refuses to move, another staffnurse and assistant nurse came in and talked to the patient. This time, they started to scold her already. The assistant nurse
then hit her head and back. I can feel it's a very forceful whack. Really pity the patient. Luckily, I'm working in a private hospital, not a government one.
Day 3The day started as the other two days before. Today I was assigned to the Occupational Therapy. This is where the patients who are discharged go to learn and do things such divertional therapy (as they have hallucinations, this helps to divert their attention to the voices or things seen and heard by them). Man, this is one boring area. I mean, there's only 4 patients there and they were doing their own work like sewing, doing crossword puzzle. I felt like escaping from there as soon as I can. What we learnt in class is like there's so much of activities to be done there. Really bored!!!
Day 4Today's the last day already. Felt kinda sad because we are leaving there and not coming back already. From what I observed during my 4 days there, I must conclude that it is really a challenging field to be in and it's certainly very interesting to learn about each and every cases that come.