It’s been over a week I’ve not updated headsteadi.com. Pretty busy with work and other stuff till I’ve no mood to update with new postings.

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I’ve been frequenting KPMC Puchong Medical Center these couple of days, attending to my brother who’s been hospitalised due to viral infection and dehydration.

Mom called me on Tuesday at around 1.30pm informing Bot was running a temperature. I was getting ready for Pakistan’s teleconference as I was looking forward to close the situation and push back MPR actions to the people who moans a lot during the situation. I had to pull out from the meeting and rushed home to check on Bot. My first thought was whether I should take him to another clinic or direct to the hospital for admission. After a quick through of decision making process, I made the call to go direct to the hospital. If I was to go to another clinic, the doctor would just give him another prescription and send him home waiting for another day to see his progress.

I took Bot to Putrajaya Hospital. Sad but true, the mentality of government medical staff just doesn’t reflect its pretty impressive infrastructure. There were different types of clinics at the reception area. We walked to the medical clinic which was at the rightmost end of the lobby. After explaining to the nurse on duty what happened, she directed us to the emergency clinic for check-up. Fine, at least she gave us some direction but the bloody emergency clinic is at the opposite end. Bot was so weak that he had to drag his feet to the other end. Upon checking with the lady at the emergency reception, she asked us to queue outside the waiting room for a quick check by the doctor on-duty. When it was our turn, I explained to the doctor that Bot had been having fever for over a week and his situation is worsening with rising body heat, diarrhea and frequent vomiting . I also explained to him that the doctor at Shah Alam clinic where Bot is studying suspected it might be dengue fever. The doctor took a quick look inside Bot’s ear and then strapped him to an electronic device that measures his body temperature and blood pressure. A couple of minutes later, the doctor said nothing’s wrong with Bot. His body temperature and BP was normal. I was really pissed off when he said not to come to emergency in the future for such cases. I told him we were instructed to see him. He told us to see a nearby GP at Precinct 9.

Unhappy with the doctor’s diagnosis, I took Bot to a private hospital, KPMC Puchong for second opinion. We met with Dr. Fadzilah and I explained to her the history of the illness and current state of the patient. At that one moment, I was thinking and talking like a doctor … yer deh. Dr. Fadzilah checked Bot thoroughly and asked him detailed questions to diagnose the symptoms. My poor brother was suspected with viral infection in the abdomen as well as confirmed to be suffering from dehydration. I’m not surprised he’s dehydrated to be honest. Knowing Bot who doesn’t like drinking water and his favourite is Coke, even when he’s sick it is no surprise he was as withered as dad’s strawberries. Bot’s blood and urine samples were taken to the lab to test dengue and other analysis. We waited for about fifteen minutes before Dr. Fadzilah called us in again. She recommended that Bot is restrained for a couple of days for observation, while waiting for the result of the blood test the following day. We further waited for about half an hour while the nurse gets ready the room. After making sure Bot’s checked-in ok, I left home to fetch some stuff for the night.

It’s an advantage actually that KPMC is 5 minutes drive from home which makes commuting very convenient and in case of emergency, I’m available within minutes. I returned to the hospital at night with Bot’s personal belongings and some food. Bot was put on sodium chloride drip to recover his body fluid. At 11.30pm, I logged on to office and dropped my boss an email informing that I’ll be taking emergency leave on Wednesday to sort things out.

Today, after doing Bot’s two pails of dirty laundry I went to the hospital to check on the sick boy. He was resting well but was bored to death, in fact was asking if he could go home. After talking to the doctor, inquiring on yesterday’s test result and checking on Bot’s current status, I went down to the lobby to settle the bill before I leave for Phuket on Thursday afternoon but unfortunately, I had to wait until he’s been discharged. Looks like, I’ve to ask Atern to sort this out later. I tried to request for Bot’s released today but the doctor would like to monitor him for another day. He will run another blood test on Thursday morning and if the results are good, Bot will be home in the evening. Oh by the way, Bot’s blood test yesterday for dengue came out negative. However, his platelets count and white blood cells are still quite low. He’s also been getting fever on and off over last night and today.

Two days in the hospital, Bot is still refusing to eat. He has no appettite. He wants to go back to Shah Alam with his friends. The hospital food turned him off. On the first night, it was steam rice and chicken broth. I checked and it was spicy as Bot claimed. I told the nurse not to serve spicy food especially when the patient is having diarrhea. Today’s lunch, Bot was served with steam rice, curry fish and belacan kangkong. Not good. The hospital must improve their menu. Perhaps change their caterer. Later in the night, I brought fruits as Bot refused to eat solid food. However tomorrow, I’m going to force him to eat porridge. As I’m posting this, the chicken is steaming in the kitchen. Will make the porridge tomorrow morning.

I will drop by early morning tomorrow to deliver Bot’s porridge before I fly to Phuket in the afternoon. Would like to cancel my vacation but flight and hotels were paid in advance and they’re not refundable. Have discussed with Mom and since Bot’s condition is getting better, I’m not so worried to leave him. Atern will take over for the rest of the week. Mom and Dad will pay a visit over the weekend while I’m gone so things should be ok by then. Hopefully the sick boy will get well soon.

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