This is what happened last night.
2.50am: Syncope Episode Averted – phew!
It was time for my IV-Infusion at midnight. A male nurse was on duty and he noticed that the IV-port on my right arm was already leaking and the area around my arm was already red and swollen. Good eye. The IV-port needs to be changed, he said. So, delay the procedure.
Only a doctor can insert a new IV-port. So he had to call the on-call doctor. She came but she was going on about her personal stories with him as though I did not exist. I had wanted to ask some questions, but I don’t think I would be able to get a word in. She checked and said my left hand (not arm, but hand) has a good vein.
Are you sure, I asked. Normally, they have problems finding a vein in either of my hands. Boleh, she said. Ini cantik.
Ok, you’re the doctor. She proceeded to insert the new IV-port in my left hand. Inserted, flushed, done while she talked about her personal stories with the male nurse and I might as well have been a mannequin lying on the bed!
The male nurse started the IV-infusion. He’s good. He’s smart. Thank goodness he is. He said I should put the icepack on the swollen part of my right arm to reduce the swelling. Letak 20 minit sekali, he said. Okay, so I did and it was cold. I hate cold.
As the IV-infusion was progressing, I suddenly felt a dull pain in my forehead and a feeling of passing out and nausea. Uh-oh…I have a history of syncope. Anything can trigger a passing out (ranging from a fainting spell to a stronger seizure). I knew it was coming and the only thing is to elevate my legs to at least 45 degrees with cushions and pillows. That’s how I stop it, but only if I detect the initial signs. I’ve had four such episodes in my life where I had not seen it coming and I once landed flat on the concrete slab and the corner of the concrete slab poked right under my eye (the scar is still there), once I had to be revived with adrenaline or I would have died and twice, I had to be revived by family and friends. I had a brain MRI done which is a long story, but the short conclusion is that there is no brain tumour. Some things in life cannot be explained.
So, either I elevate my legs or maybe eat something. Maybe I’ve got low sugar, dinner was 5 hours before. So I pressed the bell. The male nurse came (thank goodness he’s faster than the rest of the nurses). I told him, I’m going to faint. I need some biscuits.
Earlier he had given me the antibiotic tablet without food. It was Doxy. My vet always says Doxy MUST be taken with food. I told him, my dinner was at 5pm, now is 11.30pm. I need some food for this. He said: Tak pe, tak perlu. Makan saja. Oh well, this is human Doxy, ok, I makan saja. Aha…kena.
He said he’ll check my sugar level first, BP and the works. OK, fine. He did. He’s fast. Sugar was normal. BP was normal, everything was normal. You okay, kan?
I tak okay, I’m going to faint, I need some biscuits, please. So he asked the girl nurse to attend to me. That was going to be challenging.
She came in and brought me a packet of Jacobs and a packet of Milo. The Jacobs tasted like salted cardboard. Since when did Jacobs become so bad? Tolong buat Milo ini untuk saya, I pleaded? She did. Nice girl. I’m lying in bed, about to faint. I cannot move at all, the IV-infusion is going on. Moving is going to set off the beeper. In any case, I have no energy to move, I’m having a syncopal attack coming on.
Then, I asked for the impossible. Tolong angkat kaki saya. Letak pillow di bawah. She found a pillow in the cupboard but SOP probably needed her to put a pillowcase on it first. Seriously?
So she went to find a pillowcase. I am about to die here, the nausea is killing me. But I cannot move, the IV-infusion is underway. I’m stuck. And I’m about to pass out.
She finally placed the pillow under my legs, but it was only at 30 degrees. Not enough. I need at least 45 degrees, else the blood won’t flow to my head. I’ll still pass out.
Saya perlu satu lagi pillow, boleh?
There is no more pillow allocated to my room. Ok, seriously? Yes, seriously. So she asked if she could just wind up the leg part of the bed. Ok, boleh. Something is better than nothing. She did that, but I know it won’t work. I’m still going to pass out.
She asked if I wanted Panadol. Er no, I don’t want Panadol. Panadol won’t work. I just need my legs elevated, but never mind.
Then she left. I had half a mind to call my husband at home (but it’s past midnight and he’d be fast asleep), ask him to come and put one more pillow under my legs but that would be absolutely ridiculous, wouldn’t it? And if I did, he’d raise hell with the entire hospital and I’ll be booted out. Can’t let that happen…. Or, my food will be poisoned tomorrow. You can never be too sure these days. People are vindictive. Nobody likes to be told they are wrong.
Always choose your battles wisely.
If you want to do any battle, make sure you can afford to burn that bridge FOREVER in this lifetime. Battle and burn the bridge and NEVER cross paths again. I cannot afford to burn this bridge yet. I still need to be here. I need this lung specialist. Else, which hospital can I go to? That one is worse than this one.
Choose your battles wisely.
So, no. I resorted to deep breathing. Calm, calm, calm….please don’t faint. Mind over matter.
Meanwhile, I had eaten a corner of the salted cardboard and drank the Milo that the sweet girl nurse had made me. That helped a bit.
Finally, the male nurse came in. Gosh…thank goodness. I told him, please put another pillow under my legs. I need my legs elevated. He understood. Of course he did, he’s smart.
He went outside to get another pillow and elevated my legs to about 45 degrees.
Phew….. Then he asked me if I needed my phone. Haha, what? WHO needs the phone at this point when I’m trying to avert a syncopal attack on myself. Goodness….are we and our phones so inseparable?
So I said, no thank you. I don’t need my phone. Thank you very much.
Legs finally elevated to 45 degrees. That fainting spell should be passing soon. Please….
But I did ask him. Can the IV-infusion cause this fainting spell? He said no. If it did, it would have happened the first time. Maybe it was makan Doxy without food, kan? He said no, Doxy memang boleh makan without food. I won’t argue, but my vet says: ALWAYS give Doxy with food.
Was it the cold pack under my arm? Hmm…maybe. I hate cold.
Never mind what. I was already starting to feel better now. The sickly nausea is passing. Blood flowing back to my head with my legs elevated at 45 degrees.
Deep breathing, calm, calm, calm, calm….please don’t faint. Please don’t have a seizure. Not now.
The IV-infusion finally finished and the sweet girl nurse came to take out the cable. See? Choose your battles wisely. She didn’t seem happy when she saw the two pillows, but at least I had not offended her. Else….You’re just a helpless mannequin lying there in bed, you know. I said terima kasih, ya. She grunted a reply. We are still friends, ok?
Took me 45 minutes to finally be able to get up from bed. Okay, syncopal episode averted…
Hooray.
I removed the two pillows and tried to figure out how to lower back the bed to its original position. I’m an idiot with mechanical things, but I figured that out.
Finished the Milo the sweet girl made me. Terima kasih.
Went back to bed and slept with still a bit of salted cardboard stuck to my teeth but never mind, I will brush my teeth tomorrow. Unless you are me, you might not fully appreciate how relieved I was that I managed to avert a syncopal attack on myself, alone at that too. If I had my family with me, they would have known what to do. They have seen me in these attacks before.
So I sent a whatsapp message to my husband: Please bring me 2 packets of Meiji crackers tomorrow after Juno’s appointment. No hurry. Thank you.
Haha….
Pictures below show the two pillows that saved me from a syncopal attack and the er…salted cardboard. Jacobs…please. I don’t think it’s even edible.
This is nothing like the Jacobs’ “soda biscuit” I grew up with. That was edible. This is like cardboard with salt.
The two pillows that “saved my life”? Haha…thank you, saudara male nurse. You are the hero in this story!
I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t anymore. So I wrote this story on my personal FB and posted it for some laughs. In life, sometimes you just got to make light of some episodes and laugh it off.
By 5am or so, my son, Jia-Wen, must have just landed. He read my FB story and immediately said he would send me a care package once he got home.
I said that would be great. I had better eat something before the next IV-infusion, happening at 6am. But the hospital was closed for visitors. I would have to go downstairs to the entrance to meet him.
Now, those of you who know me, know that I’m hopelessly directional dyslexic, meaning I can get lost anywhere and everywhere. Call me stupid if you like, because I am in this department. Spatial intelligence is an intelligence which I do not have. You cannot have everything in life, can you?
So I had to make my way down to the entrance. Now, where on earth is the lift?
In any case, believe it or not, I found my way to the entrance by getting out through the emergency entrance. All other doors were locked.
I waited for my son and he soon arrived with his care package in tow. Hooray, now I have food before the next IV-infusion and I don’t have to eat the salted cardboard!
Oh dear….how am I going to find my way back now? Never mind, I will figure it out. And I did, by reading signboards and some dumb luck.
Here’s my care package:
My son knows what I eat!
The next IV-infusion went without a hitch or hint of a syncopal attack. Hooray!
I hope you enjoyed this story!
Note to self: If I ever get admitted to any hospital again, maybe bring two pillows, just in case? And bring some food!!
But that said, I must say that the food in this hospital is superb (not the Jacobs, I mean the food from its kitchen). My son did all the ordering of meals for me and every meal is amazing. Good hospital food, ever heard of that?
Comments
One response to “Here comes a funny story from the hospital (Syncope episode averted)”
Dr Chan you are a comic 🤣🤣🤣in the mist of all these you are still sane n can write your adventure 👏👏👏🥰🥰🥰keep well n be home tomorrow 🥰🥰🥰