If I could live once again in the future, I would want to be a doctor. :)
Since I was a kid, I always like the hospital environment. I always hope I could get hospitalized so I could get all the hospital services that I had dreamed of. But it never got realized since I never got any serious illness or injury at that time that needed to be hospitalized. Though I really like to be in a hospital, but I didn't have enough confidence to be a doctor because my science grade was not so good. I always got low grades for all science subjects, such as Biology, Chemicals, Physics, and even Mathematics. I couldn't believe it as well because my father was an Alchemist and my mother was a Pharmacist. Both of my parents were science people, but I don't inherit any of their brains. =/ Somehow I turned out to be more talented in social, arts, and language.
Though I never got hospitalized when I was a kid, but I do have some memories being treated in a hospital. The worst case I got into a hospital, was when I had a bad injury on my head that I got from fighting with my younger brother. So that time we had a big fight like cats and dogs, me and my brother were pushing a big chair to each other. It was a such a big chair for elementary kids like us to play around, at the top of the chair there was a sharp carving made of wood. So we're pushing the chair to each other because we're both didn't want to lose the fight, but then I lost my grip and my brother pushed it so hard so the chair hit me from in front, the chair fell down onto me and the sharp carving stabbed right into my front head. I didn't cry when it happened, thankfully I was still conscious and the carving didn't get deeper, so right away with my reflex I pulled it out and saw something coming out. Sounds scary isn't it? It's even scarier when I saw the hole on my head in the mirror, that's when I cried out loud. Then my mom brought me to the hospital, and I got stitched painfully since the doctor didn't put me to sleep. I remember there were a few people holding my hands and legs while the doctor was stitching me, because I was struggling a lot and crying out loud. But after that we went back home since I didn't have to stay in hospital.
A few injuries also happened when I grew up as a teenager, but none of it made me even stay a night in a hospital. I've ever fainted twice, one when I was attending a school ceremony and second one when I was having a small meeting in front of the class room. The first one is quite memorable because my face hit the school field's ground, I could hear people talking to save me a few moments after I collapsed and laid on the ground. Then I could feel a few people were carrying me together to the treatment room. I didn't injure that much, I only got some bruises on my face, hands, and legs. The worst part was my lips, it was bleeding a bit and got swollen later on. But I received people's care and attention that made me feel the pain less.
Then in high school, I've ever sicked once when I got too exhausted due to the tight training schedule of my marching band activity as we're about to enter a championship. I got a typhoid illness and made me have to rest for 2 to 3 weeks. But amazingly it didn't make me stay in a hospital as I was expected for so long. My dad treated me at house, he made some soups that could help the healing process and gave me the medicine day and night. My dad was quite good in treating me whenever I was sick. I didn't know where he learnt the theory on how to treat illness, but his treatments work all the time. I really like his homemade porridge, it tasted good I could even finish one full pot. :)
Anyway, lately I've been following one nice serial movies called
D-Day. This movie told about a tragedy of earthquake that caused many people injured in a city. This disaster had caused the medical staffs in a hospital to struggle saving all the victims who got injured. Among those medical personnel, there's one doctor who would take any risks to save the victims no matter what it takes. Unlike other doctors who were so cautious to take the responsibility, Lee Hae Sung was there to carry all the load in every critical case in order to save the patient's life.
I got touched by one scene above when the doctor told his colleague why he saved the patient whereas it was clearly shown that the patient only got a very small chance to live because his injury was terrible and the hospital was run out of medical supplies and they couldn't do any blood transfusion since there's no stock of blood. Then the doctor answered that he would do anything even there's only 1% chance of survival because he's a doctor.
This scene reminds me again of one good doctor who treated me when I was in a critical moment when I had food poisoned about 3 years ago. There's a doctor who visited me at night after I got hospitalized. It's my first time staying in a hospital, finally my wish to get hospitalized came true. But I was all alone since I came by myself without any family when I lived abroad, and I was in an emergency situation to tell my friends about me getting sick at that moment. So this kind doctor visited me while I was sleeping, then I got half-awake a bit after hearing the doctor and the nurse were talking. I heard the nurse said something like "this patient was all alone, no family, the condition was critical", and so on explaining the situations to the doctor. While the nurse explaining, I was still shivering in a cold, I could feel my entire body was a bit shaking due to the cold. Then I remember suddenly the doctor held my right hand for a moment to calm me then rubbed it like... you know when someone pity on you or feel bad on you then they show their caring and sympathy by holding your hand. Not just holding but actually giving their sincere care. I didn't see the doctor's face since I was half-conscious, but I felt all of the caring through the warm hand which holding me that night.
I wish the doctor would be someone like in the movie above, then I definitely would be his number one fan. :)
It was
Alexandra Hospital the place where I got hospitalized for the first time in my life. The place where I met the doctor who made me feel cared as a human. All the medical personnel who treated me in that hospital were so nice. They're warm and caring just like a family. There was a kind doctor as well who visited me after I got a little bit better, she talked to me nicely and smiled to me while reminding me not to forget to drink a lot since I lost many fluids. I didn't remember there was someone who has spoken as nice as that in the country since I lived there, and also the nurses treated me so well and never even once being harsh like what we've often seen in the movies. I remember there's a nurse who kept helping me going to the bathroom since I have to carry all the fluids and the medical equipment. If I felt hurt whenever I had to go to the bathroom, the nurse would encouraged me patiently,"hey don't cry, it's okay...".
I felt thankful while being treated there, it's the first time I feel being taken care of by many people. My friends also visited me while I was there, they're all very kind sparing their time in their busy work life. There's also a friend who stayed all night for me even though I told her to go home since she has to work. I felt really touched by their caring somehow. If I get a chance I will pay their kindness one day. :)
My mom and my auntie also visited me once, they flew right away after hearing the news that I got sicked. I kinda miss my auntie, she was very nice and kind. But unfortunately she already passed away, just a few months after my father's funeral. I feel deeply saddened by her leaving. When I was a kid, I also have a very kind auntie who taught me some handmade crafts. I learned how to paint a shirt and canvas bag, make a miniature from gypsum, and how to make some crafts from paper. She would like to teach me how to bake a Brownies as well, sometimes she told me some stories about her hometown on how nice it was. I always remember the time when I was about to go to a party with my friends, she was there smiling at me and said "have fun!" But sadly one day she got a terminal cancer, I visited her in a hospital with my dad. She looked so pale and weak. I asked her whether it was hurt, then she smiled weakly and said yes it was hurt but it's okay. I still remember it until now how she smiled at me who was still a teenager, not even an adult, but she answered me nicely even though she was sicked. Unfortunately not long after that, she passed away. We all felt deeply saddened by her leaving. Why some nice and kind people I've known left so fast and leave their memories with us? No matter how hard to let them go, I feel very grateful that I could known some nice and kind people like them in my life.
Anyway about a year ago, my mother just got a surgery. It was the first time in my life waiting for someone in a hospital. It felt very different with the feeling when I got hospitalized. When you were there to look up for someone you know who got treated, it felt very uneasy. I couldn't sleep well while waiting there. Right on the day when the surgery held, we're all felt anxious while waiting in front of the operation room. I felt like, "oh so this is how it feels waiting for someone you know getting a surgery". While we were waiting, there was another family as well who waited for their family member in another operation room. I saw their family member once before he's taken into the operation room. I coincidentally saw him in front of the elevator when I was taking a break. He was laying on a bed with eyes weakly open but the gaze was blank. He's not moving at all, only staring somewhere blankly. He got a priority to board the elevator first, along with the medical personnel who accompanied him.
Then after he went upstairs, I boarded the elevator as well going to the same floor as where he would have the surgery. I didn't know before that he was an emergency patient because it didn't appear like it was critical since his appearance was fine and looked so calm for a patient who would get a surgery. Unlike my mother, even before entering the operation room she was so nervous and couldn't calm at all. I just knew later on then what happened to the patient I met in front of the elevator. A little while after we waited, there's a rushing of people coming in and out from the operation room where the patient was taken. The family member who waited there also looked even more anxious than before. The patient's operation room was located right in front of the waiting room, so we could see slightly the activity inside there. Even without explanation, people could tell that the doctors and nurses were struggling there. This panics situation made us feel uneasy as well, because my mother was still having her surgery. Then suddenly after awhile, someone came and talked to the patient's family member. It was silent for a moment and all we could hear was the voice of that person who talked to the family member, but I didn't hear clearly what he said. Then after he talked, suddenly the family members shouted and cried out loud.
Then later on we just knew that the patient whom I met in front of the elevator couldn't make it, he passed away in the operation room. I had no idea at all that I just saw someone who's dying. I couldn't believe it that someone I just met with eyes clearly open and awake, suddenly died in a few minutes later. If I remember it again, I still can't believe it. That day I just learned, so that's how human's life is. It could gone just in a minute.
My mother's surgery went well alhamdulillah, her surgery finished just a few moment later. She has recovered and getting better up to now. While I was waiting for my mother in a hospital after the surgery, I spent some time to look around the hospital building. It's a nice hospital, I like the staff's cafeteria that located down stair. I used to have breakfast there, I loved to hear the medical staffs talking about medical things while drinking my coffee. The coffee served there was fabulous, they would give one medium size pot so we can refill it by our self. Maybe because the staffs there need to stay awake while doing their job, so they would give not only one cup but one pot of coffee. Hehehe.
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Coffee Latte ~ or we call it here as “Kopi Susu”
The table cloth underneath really reminds me of my unforgettable school uniform |
I see that some people finding it hard to stay around in a hospital. Some are worry to check up their illness, some others are unwilling to see their loved ones getting through the pain, many others are even having it difficult dealing with the medical bills, and some are having a hard time to see their family's gone. But on the other side no matter how hard it is, I can feel the hopes that people keep holding inside, the expectations, the prayers, the willingness to stay alive. This is why I really like to stay around in a hospital, to see people's hopes and their relentless struggle for a life.
Anyone who has one reason to live, he can endure almost all the things.
― Unknown
"However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there's life, there is hope.”
― Stephen Hawking
