It was a normal Friday 9 o'clock morning in the small ENT clinic. The benches were all full, patient coming in and out of the entrance door, sometimes unmistakably looking like a fish market. I screened all the consultation room, searching for my favourite MO. There he is in the last room with another favourite MO. Ahh...I was a little too late this morning, other medical colleagues were already there, shadowing them. And the 3 meter X 3 meter room was full of people; 2 MOs, 2 medical students, 1 staff nurse, 2 patients each having 2 to 3 next of kin accompanying them. Typical sight of Malaysian hospital clinic.
"Pergi bilik sana", said the staff nurse while pointing another consultation room.
Hmmm. Don't get me wrong. All the MOs in ENT department are super nice people, but there are few of them who are really keen to teach. Letting you perform an otoscopy on every patient they examine. Sometimes teach you new things, spend some precious time of theirs drawing diagrams to make you understand. While some others would simply ask you to dig the answers yourself if you couldn't answer them and leave you clueless and all awkward at the corner of the room.
Anyway, back to the story. So I entered the first room, where one MO was in the middle of a consultation with an elderly Chinese man.
"Uncle, you ada kanser sini.", pointing the lateral upper left neck.
"Itu kanser belum merebak lagi. Kami rasa elok uncle buat operation la, kasi buang itu kanser. Jadi sekarang kami mau tau la, uncle mau buat itu operation atau tidak.", said the MO.
The Chinese man looking rather shock of what he just heard. The frown on his head and the look in his eyes explained the worry in his heart.
"Itu operation bahaya ka?", he uttered slowly.
"Semua operation ada risiko. Selalunya untuk operation ini, kami ambil masa 2 jam. Tapi untuk kes uncle mungkin kita akan ambil masa lebih lagi, mungkin 3 jam sebab uncle punya kanser ada besar sikit.", the MO explained.
The Chinese man had glazed eyes and was not responding to the question and explanation.
The MO on the other hand, was already anxious as there is a long list of patients that he need to see and it's already half past nine.
"So uncle, macam mana? You mau operation ka tidak?", asked the MO again.
"Boleh kasi saya sikit jam mau fikir ka? Sekejap lagi saya kasi tau.", said the Chinese man.
"Okay, boleh boleh. Uncle tunggu luar ok. Nanti sudah buat keputusan, you masuk bagi tau ok."
Imagine someone just broke a bad news to you, saying you have cancer. And you have to decide on the spot whether or not to undergo an operation. I couldn't imagine how that must have felt.
While waiting for specialist doctor outside his room for our bedside teaching, I saw that Chinese man standing against the wall, looking despondent.
I can't really blame the MO for rushing his consultation because in between racing with time, a long list of patients to see and doing things the right way; one has to choose. The MO tried as best as he can to show empathy but he just could not spend all the time in the world to console him. The decision has to be the Chinese man's decision.
Not long after, a young father walk across the hallway we're standing, carrying a young crying toddler with a cleft lip. Then later the day, I met a 23 years old lady with branchial cyst with suspected salivary gland malignancy.
Some people are born unlucky, having all sorts of health problems or inheriting genetic diseases they never prayed for. Some people are lucky enough to be all well and healthy but are stupid enough to slowly kill their own body i.e. smoking, excessive alcohol, unhealthy diet etc.
Our body is our responsibility. How we use it and how we take care of it will all be questionable on the day of judgement.
Anyway, my last day in ENT clinic ended with a medical humour. The last patient on that day, a young Myanmar lady who cannot speak Malay/Mandarin/Indian/Hokkien etc, came in with alleged fish bone stuck in her throat. They had to scope her. Before entering the scope room, my favourite MO said;
"Okay people, let's go fishing!"
It was so funny looking at them trying to give instruction to the poor young lady asking her to say 'aaaaaa...', 'telan air liur!' etc but she just couldn't understand them.
After 15 minutes, they finally took out the 1cm fish bone.
"This is the fun part of this clinic, you get to go fishing!", he told us and laughed.
Okay it doesn't sound so funny when I write it here haha. Oh well.
The Chinese man looking rather shock of what he just heard. The frown on his head and the look in his eyes explained the worry in his heart.
"Itu operation bahaya ka?", he uttered slowly.
"Semua operation ada risiko. Selalunya untuk operation ini, kami ambil masa 2 jam. Tapi untuk kes uncle mungkin kita akan ambil masa lebih lagi, mungkin 3 jam sebab uncle punya kanser ada besar sikit.", the MO explained.
The Chinese man had glazed eyes and was not responding to the question and explanation.
The MO on the other hand, was already anxious as there is a long list of patients that he need to see and it's already half past nine.
"So uncle, macam mana? You mau operation ka tidak?", asked the MO again.
"Boleh kasi saya sikit jam mau fikir ka? Sekejap lagi saya kasi tau.", said the Chinese man.
"Okay, boleh boleh. Uncle tunggu luar ok. Nanti sudah buat keputusan, you masuk bagi tau ok."
***
Imagine someone just broke a bad news to you, saying you have cancer. And you have to decide on the spot whether or not to undergo an operation. I couldn't imagine how that must have felt.
While waiting for specialist doctor outside his room for our bedside teaching, I saw that Chinese man standing against the wall, looking despondent.
I can't really blame the MO for rushing his consultation because in between racing with time, a long list of patients to see and doing things the right way; one has to choose. The MO tried as best as he can to show empathy but he just could not spend all the time in the world to console him. The decision has to be the Chinese man's decision.
Not long after, a young father walk across the hallway we're standing, carrying a young crying toddler with a cleft lip. Then later the day, I met a 23 years old lady with branchial cyst with suspected salivary gland malignancy.
Some people are born unlucky, having all sorts of health problems or inheriting genetic diseases they never prayed for. Some people are lucky enough to be all well and healthy but are stupid enough to slowly kill their own body i.e. smoking, excessive alcohol, unhealthy diet etc.
Our body is our responsibility. How we use it and how we take care of it will all be questionable on the day of judgement.
***
Anyway, my last day in ENT clinic ended with a medical humour. The last patient on that day, a young Myanmar lady who cannot speak Malay/Mandarin/Indian/Hokkien etc, came in with alleged fish bone stuck in her throat. They had to scope her. Before entering the scope room, my favourite MO said;
"Okay people, let's go fishing!"
It was so funny looking at them trying to give instruction to the poor young lady asking her to say 'aaaaaa...', 'telan air liur!' etc but she just couldn't understand them.
After 15 minutes, they finally took out the 1cm fish bone.
"This is the fun part of this clinic, you get to go fishing!", he told us and laughed.
Okay it doesn't sound so funny when I write it here haha. Oh well.
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