Heart Sick (14)
Day #11, Aug 9, 2007
Life in the HDU (High Dependency Unit) was very routine and boring with nothing much to do (for me at least but probably not for the nurses and doctors). I needed some pills to get into sleep at night, as my brain won’t rest even if I closed my eyes; it’s very ‘noisy’ with all kinds of thoughts and ‘choppy’ images flashing through – I wonder if that’s what they meant in books about ‘seeing life flashing in the mind’?
What made it worst was the nurses would switch off the lights at night because there were 5 other patients in the ward. After turning about 5oo turns on the bed, it’d be almost 5am, and the nurses would start cleaning the patients with warm towers, changed the robes and bed sheets and after all those commotions I would be wide awake by then! What’s for breakfast? Ironically it’s usually Milo and curry puff.
Then something happened that I won’t forget for a long, long time… This patient was sent to the HDU at about 5pm, and he was put on the bed opposite mine. Everything seemed normal till around 2 hours later. I noticed the nurses got busier, and looked more serious. Then I thought I heard words like “bleeding”, “too much”, “get the doctor quick”… and the atmosphere got even thicker and more doctors were standing around the patient. Voices were raised, more equipment was wheeled in and I knew something must’ve gone wrong. One of the doctors made a quick announcement, “we have no choice but to do it right here, can’t wait for the OT to get ready!” All curtains were immediately drawn and all I could hear was the sound of beeping equipment and perhaps sounds of the instruments being taken or placed on the tray… They were actually performing a surgery right in the HDU! I can still remember the patient asked the doctor, apparently before he passed out, “am I dying, doctor?” That lingered in my head till today.
My eyes were wide open that whole night, and I prayed for him. Hours later, everything went quiet, and the curtains were drawn open again and I found the patient has been wheeled out of the ward already. They kept the lights down while doing the cleaning… I saw them mopping the floor and wiping the wall and bed posts. Not too long after that the nurses got busy again with the routine of changing the robes, bed sheets, etc. So it’s another night that I didn’t get to sleep.
Later, one of the doctors came to the ward, and apologized for the ‘trauma’ we all had to endure. He explained it was necessary as a life was at stake. And he also brought good news that the patient survived.
The Echocardiography Room usually look friendlier during the day.
Life in the HDU (High Dependency Unit) was very routine and boring with nothing much to do (for me at least but probably not for the nurses and doctors). I needed some pills to get into sleep at night, as my brain won’t rest even if I closed my eyes; it’s very ‘noisy’ with all kinds of thoughts and ‘choppy’ images flashing through – I wonder if that’s what they meant in books about ‘seeing life flashing in the mind’?
What made it worst was the nurses would switch off the lights at night because there were 5 other patients in the ward. After turning about 5oo turns on the bed, it’d be almost 5am, and the nurses would start cleaning the patients with warm towers, changed the robes and bed sheets and after all those commotions I would be wide awake by then! What’s for breakfast? Ironically it’s usually Milo and curry puff.
Then something happened that I won’t forget for a long, long time… This patient was sent to the HDU at about 5pm, and he was put on the bed opposite mine. Everything seemed normal till around 2 hours later. I noticed the nurses got busier, and looked more serious. Then I thought I heard words like “bleeding”, “too much”, “get the doctor quick”… and the atmosphere got even thicker and more doctors were standing around the patient. Voices were raised, more equipment was wheeled in and I knew something must’ve gone wrong. One of the doctors made a quick announcement, “we have no choice but to do it right here, can’t wait for the OT to get ready!” All curtains were immediately drawn and all I could hear was the sound of beeping equipment and perhaps sounds of the instruments being taken or placed on the tray… They were actually performing a surgery right in the HDU! I can still remember the patient asked the doctor, apparently before he passed out, “am I dying, doctor?” That lingered in my head till today.
My eyes were wide open that whole night, and I prayed for him. Hours later, everything went quiet, and the curtains were drawn open again and I found the patient has been wheeled out of the ward already. They kept the lights down while doing the cleaning… I saw them mopping the floor and wiping the wall and bed posts. Not too long after that the nurses got busy again with the routine of changing the robes, bed sheets, etc. So it’s another night that I didn’t get to sleep.
Later, one of the doctors came to the ward, and apologized for the ‘trauma’ we all had to endure. He explained it was necessary as a life was at stake. And he also brought good news that the patient survived.
The Echocardiography Room usually look friendlier during the day.-HS
Labels: My Brush With Life
posted by HS & SC at
5:18 PM
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