3 Hospitals in 4 Days. Stress, stress, stress!

27 May 2010

I can't believe it! I actually been to 3 hospitals in a short span of 4 days.

Jared has been frequently having nose bleed, clearing his throat and created this wheezing sound that is very worrying and disturbing. We have taken him to see a GP near our house and the doctor said he's allergy to food and gave him a few medicines. His condition got better but not totally cured though he finished the medicines prescribed by the GP. We took him to see the GP again and the episode repeat and went on. I didn't like the idea of Jared taking so much medicine.

After Jared's school exam was over, I brought Jared to see a paediatrician at SJMC on last Monday. The paediatrician was very detail and he did a thorough check on Jared. He checked his eyes, ears, nose, throat, body, breathing, hand, legs, etc. After the thorough examination, he said Jared's nose is red and soar and caused the nose bleeding. He constantly cleared the throat due to air pollutant and his throat was dry. It has nothing to do with food allergy as food allergy will create rashes. The paediatrician prescribed him with fucidin cream to be applied to his nose once daily for few days and saline for dry throat. No medicine at all.

Today, I went to Sunway Medical Centre to collect my health screening report. As per the parking receipt, I reached the hospital at 9.54am and left at 11.10am. A total of 1 hour and 16 minutes. You can imagine how I felt during the one hour plus waiting for my test result. My appointment was at 11am but I decided to try my luck to get earlier appointment as I need to rush to Gleneagles Hospital thereafter. I went to Sunmed Wellness Centre to do my yearly health screening last week. The program covered urine test, blood test, pap smear, chest x-ray and ECG.

The results are normal, thank God. In fact, there's improvement in my total cholesterol and fasting glucose. The doctor asked what have I done. She asked me if I changed my diet or exercise. In fact, the 2 patients before me were having cholesterol issue and they were talking about the need to go for swimming and gym. Golf can't help. I did not make drastic change to my diet or lifestyle. I'm just a little cautious in terms of food consumption. I changed our cooking oil to canola or sunflower oil. I cut down my favourite fried stuff that I used to buy after lunch. I occasionally go for Hot Yoga class and gym though I complained that I've not frequented the gym often enough despite I just need to take my office lift down to ground floor. I started swimming again ever since Auntie YC moved to her designer condo. Guess all this little, little things add up and help in my health affair. I must make sure that my family go for swimming this weekend. It has been awhile since we last had our swim as Jared was having his exam. Of yes ... I drink more water nowadays.

After collected my health screening report from Sunway Medical Centre, I headed to Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre to have my yearly breast follow up check. Time flies, I remember writing a post on this a year ago. After a few wrong turns here and there from Sunway to Jalan Ampang, again, as per the parking receipt, I reached the hospital at 12.02pm and left at 6.03pm. A total of 6 hours in the hospital! No wonder the car park costs me RM9, the maximum charge for car parking by the hospital.

For this follow up check, I need to perform mammogram and breast ultrasound. I didn't wait long for the mammogram procedure and its not as pain as what other people claimed. I like the young Malay girl who performed it for me. She's very gentle, sweet and understand our anxiety feeling.

Thereafter, I went to the ultrasound waiting area. I remembered I was at the waiting area at 1.15pm and was told there were 3 more patients before me and it would take about 45 minutes before my turn. I didn't want to have my lunch prior to the ultrasound and worrying what could the results be. I prefer to have a peaceful lunch after the ultrasound examination. After slightly over an hour, about 2.20pm, my name was called and I went in for the ultrasound. The radiologist was not as friendly as the previous radiologist who used to perform the ultrasound for me. I was so disappointed to hear that she has resigned from the hospital.

This radiologist was extremely detail and thorough and with my state of anxiety, it felt like ages. At the end of the examination, I couldn't stop myself and asked her about the results. She told me I have 2 solid lesions, one of which did not appear in last year's examination. She didn't want to comment much and said my breast specialist will advice me accordingly. How to have a peaceful lunch?

I had my lunch at 3pm at the hospital's cafe. I ordered Cantonese fried noodle that cost RM11.50 and tasted awful. Even the Chinese old auntie that was sitting next to me said so.

After lunch, I went back to the Imaging department to collect my mammogram and ultrasound reports. The reports were not ready. I was told that the radiologist need to review through the many images that she has taken. Finally, the reports were only ready at 4.45pm and I was at the Imaging department for more than 4 hours! And I thought I could be home by 4pm, have a good shower and tea time and watch American Idol finale at 6pm. The mammogram and breast ultrasound cost RM268.

Immediately, I went to the consultant clinic which was located in opposite block of the Imaging department. The clinic was packed! Of my ... another waiting. My name was called to see the breast specialist at ~ 5.30pm. I was extremely nervous while the specialist read my 2 pages long reports, waiting for her to explain to me the results especially on the 2 solid lesions.

The specialist initially recommended me to perform biopsy. After detail review of the ultrasound images and physical examination on my breasts, she didn't think its necessary to do so as there's no significant vascularity seen. At the end, she said "Nothing to worry". Phew ... what a BIG relief! I said "That's what I want to hear" and she said "So do others. They just wanted me to touch, touch their breasts and tell them so". According to her the clinic was jam packed just before CNY as those patients that visited the clinic wanted to get the comfort and peace of mind before the long CNY celebration. The consultation charge is RM120.

As I left the hospital and turned into Jalan Ampang towards Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, it was a massive jam right in front of old City Square / Crown Princess hotel. It was such a terrible jam on the journey home and my car petrol signal came out. I left the hospital at 6.03pm and reached home at 7.52pm, almost 2 hours on the road. This reminded me how lucky I am not to work in KL.

It was a long day, lots of waiting time and time spent on the road. The stress and anxiety of waiting for test results and examination is not a good feeling at all. I was at home just in time to watch the American Idol finale results show at 8pm, not the 6pm show.

I must remember to drink more water, take cranberry juice, attend Hot Yoga class more often, go to gym more often and swim more often too. Health is so, so important! Money cant buy love and ... HEALTH!