Thursday, September 18, 2008

be patient, dear patient


Now I know why patients are called patients. It is because they have to wait, ever so patiently, for their illness to run its full course. Such course of illness can be derailed, can take expected or unexpected twists and turns, but it cannot be rushed.

Such was our experience when my nephew, Anton, was afflicted with dengue this past week. We could not do anything but wait and watch as the fever spiked then abated, as the hematocrit rose to alarming levels, as the platelet count steadily dropped. He did not have the classical dengue, which is milder, but he had the dreaded kind of dengue which merited admission to the pediatric ICU for four days and three nights. All those times his parents stayed by his side, attending to his needs, waiting for the med techs to come every six hours to take blood samples, sleeping only in snatches by hunching over the foot of his bed.

After four days in the ICU his platelet went up to a comfortable level and his hematocrit went down to normal. We were all so glad, relieved, jubilant, grateful.

After more than a week at the hospital, Anton was discharged this afternoon and is now back home. Oh, happy day!

7 comments:

x said...

i dont know with you but if you tried being a patient its not nice... hmmm blood tests here and there... talked to a father of a patient for LBM.. one of his comments was. ataya doc kapoy kaayo diri hasta tae ug ihi ipa sukod jud tinasa, puerting lisora... i said dili pud siguro, sulti niya grabe doc balik balik pa gyod. ang nurse mangutana nong libang pa imo bata, if you answers o na sunod question ana pila ka tasa o kutsara. sulti siya sunod inkaso ma admit ug balik mag sigi ko dala tasa ug kutsara

ness said...

I had been a patient baya. And it was not easy to wait patiently for my op site to heal! Or to wait for the pain to totally go away so I could back to normal activities.

Mao na ang patient kailangan maging patient talaga.

Vk-mahalkaayo said...

heheheeh

sory tawa sa ko ni Ms.X....
bitaw, ning mapoyo ta ug ospital,
natulog pa ta, gipukaw kay kung dili BP, ask ihi.tai.suka or what...ok-ba-or unsa.

sus lamia kasab-an sa mipukaw uy...

mayo ug mipukaw kay pakan-on ta...lol

bitaw, but nurses or aid they are so kind and good....caring kaayo.

patient kay patient gyd kaayo....

happy weekend....

Vk-mahalkaayo said...

mayo, kay ok na imo nephew,....

daghan bitaw dha sa atoa, ako pod nephew, kana iya mama naa dha,

mayo naayo pod....

bye

ness said...

Bitaw, Vicki,

Ako pud guilty ko ana. I wake the patient up to ask Ma'am/Sir are you asleep? Dayon pag-wake up ingon pud ko, O sige, Ma'am/Sir go back to sleep.

Sounds weird, to wake them up just to tell them to sleep, no? But actually it is a very important test kay we have to know how deep is the sleep or sedation, we have to know how arousable is the patient. Testing for neurologic function na siya.

Same with all the sukod sukod urine, feces, vomit ug fluid intake kay impt to measure man how much fluid in and out of the body.

Mao na even if we know maglagot ang patient we still have to do it kay for the patient's own good man na. :-)

Rosana said...

Hi Ness,
Yeah I totally agree. I used to dread nurses or nurse assistants coming in and out of my or a relative's room to take temp, BP, ask about all those yucky things like feces, vomitus, urine, etc.. then ipa-measure pa gyud. Now I understand...and is now more than willing to give info.

I'm happy that your nephew is out of the hospital from dengue. I know now how it feels, as well... haayyy!

Vk-mahalkaayo said...

bitaw dra.

thank you kaayo....

first nako ospital, naglagot gyd ko,
then after, na-isip nako, sakto gyd ila gibuhat...

mao nga the next napod nakong IN- kung dli ko pukawon or what sa nurse, moingon nako....wla ko nimo pukawa, wla ko nimo check-up, if everything is ok....lol

reklamo nako.....

thank you kaayo, dra. ness......